Everyone Has A Story Chapter 17: So How Could I Let You Go?, a numb3rs fanfic

Charlie didn't know why he would trust a woman like Janet Waits. After what her son put him through, he shouldn't even be in contact with her. But he was. And now he was going to her house.

"Do you want any music?" Janet asked as she drove.

Charlie shook his head no. He didn't want any music. He wanted to be left alone. He wanted to be safe. He wanted to stop living in fear. He wanted to be at home. He wanted his family to be safe. But Janet couldn't give him those things. Who could?

"You're not in a very talkative mood, are you?"

Charlie briefly looked at her and saw she was smiling at him. He tried to smile back, but it was small and forced. He hoped she'd understand.

"You know, having three boys of my own, I get used to knowing what's wrong and why. I think it's pretty obvious what's wrong in your life, but I don't really see that on your face right now. Something else is bothering you."

Janet pulled into a long driveway and up to a brick, two-story house. It was well kept, the grass neatly mown and the gardens well-tended. It definitely looked like a welcoming place. Perhaps Charlie could find some peace here.

"Come inside," Janet said, leading the way. She took out the keys from her purse and quickly unlocked the door. Charlie stepped inside her living room. The wood floors were spotless, making it seem that three boys shouldn't have lived there. Pictures lined her walls, and Charlie had to stop when he saw Carl's face looking at him.

"Charlie?" Janet placed her hand on Charlie's upper arm and he flinched away. She followed his gaze and gasped. "Oh, I'm so sorry. If I had thought about it, I would have taken it down before you came inside. Obviously I didn't expect you to be here, but I'll take care of that now."

Janet swiftly moved to take down Carl's most recent pictures. Even though he had not known Carl when he was younger, his horrible eyes still looked at him in his younger years. Charlie knew which one he was in every picture. His eyes weren't easily forgotten.

Janet turned around after putting the photos away. "Now, would you like to have a seat? I could get your something to drink if you'd like."

Charlie nodded in response.

"Well, what would you like?"

Charlie just looked at her, hoping his eyes would voice what he felt. He honestly didn't care. She smiled softly in response. "I'll get you some iced tea."

Charlie smiled his thank-you as she left to go into the kitchen. He sat down on the couch and shivered at the thought that Carl had sat there once before, too. Everything about this house made him think of Carl. For a while now, he hadn't thought about him; his main focus was on Jake. But, now, surrounded by Carl's house, he felt him creeping back into his life.

I could kill you right now.

Charlie shook his head, fighting away Carl's voice. It wasn't allowed in anymore. It was finally gone, and he wouldn't let it back in.

"Here you go," Janet said as she handed Charlie the glass. She sat across from him in a reclining chair. She brought her own glass of tea to her mouth a took a short sip.

"Well, it's apparent that you don't want to talk about what else is bothering you right now, so do you mind if I tell you about Carl now?"

Charlie shook his head no. It was her house, her rules. He figured he might as well get this over with so maybe he'd be done facing this family for good. Maybe then he could finally be free of Carl's presence.

"Before Carl was kidnapped, he wasn't a bad boy at all; quite the opposite, actually. He never got in trouble, never back-talked, nothing. He was the ideal son. We actually

wanted him to get in trouble for once." Janet laughed as she remembered how her son had been before the abduction. "It didn't make sense to us when he was kidnapped. We didn't come from a wealthy family. But he had been taken from me, and, knowing that we wouldn't be able to pay to get him back, I felt like I'd lost him for good.

"While he was kidnapped, the men who took him did the most awful things to him. They didn't just attack him physically; they attacked him mentally, too. They would tell him that we

were there to get him back. He'd get his hopes up and he'd run to the door. When we weren't there, he would stop and stare, and eventually he would cry. He was old enough to remember everything. At fifteen, it was strange that he'd been kidnapped. Usually younger children are the victims. But the men who took him, they went after older children, mostly teenagers. That way they'd be sure to remember everything that happened."

Janet paused and shivered. Charlie leaned forward on the couch. This was getting interesting. It didn't seem like Carl could have actually been formed into such a bad person. He just assumed some evil had resided inside him all his life. It was the only thing that made sense to him.

"Carl was... he was shown pictures of our family. Apparently they had been planning the kidnapping for months before. They did their homework. They found out everything about us.

They used that information to pretend we had told the kidnappers that. And he believed them. They were that convincing. They had even convinced him that we had adopted him and hadn't told him. He's my son! I thought he always knew that. He looked just like his father. How could we have adopted him?" Even now, Janet didn't know why Carl had believed them for a second. She shook her head. She had showered him with love all his life. She had never shown favorites with her boys. What could make him think he was different?

"Anyway, the men were good with computers. They took the photos they had taken of us and had put them in different situations. He showed us, supposedly after Carl was kidnapped, partying outside. They had taken Carl out of the picture so he would think we didn't care that he was gone. He was so wrong. I don't think I smiled once during the time he was gone. He had kidnapped for a week. A week!"

Janet's voice was strained, almost hysterical. She hated trying to relive the worst week of her life. It just didn't seem like she could get past that time. It had been so terrible. By the third day, she began to think he was dead. The idea of losing one of her boys had petrified her... now she only had one son left. Sometimes she amazed herself with how she still managed to survive. And with the threat of losing her only son...

"They did countless things to him. They got him so upset that they made him hate us. He began to hate our family. It was awful. They'd bring him a picture every day of us. They even brought in a picture of a tombstone with his name on it and then party balloons around it. He was so naive! We never, ever would have done that. Who does? Honestly, who does?" Janet couldn't imagine a family so cruel.

"The thing that... that finally got to Carl was when the men told him they killed us. They somehow managed to get pictures of us where we looked dead. I don't know, maybe they took them in our sleep. Anyway, they convinced Carl that they practically slaughtered us... and it was because that's what he had wanted."

Janet dabbed at her eyes when she felt moisture. Now was not the time to cry. "He never told us, but he wrote in his journal that he had screamed and cried, explaining that he had never wanted that; he never wanted us to get hurt. It was shortly after that that Todd was kidnapped, too, and when Carl saw him, he felt so relieved. He thought that it would be over. He knew he wouldn't have to worry about those men anymore. But Todd wouldn't take his place."

Janet paused once more to compose herself. This was the hardest part. "I-I never knew it before. But after Carl died, I found that journal. He said that, in that moment, when Todd wouldn't save him, he realized that us getting killed was really what he had wanted."

Charlie felt a shudder run through him and he knew Janet had to have seen it. Carl had been through hell and back. He couldn't imagine what the people that kidnapped Carl had been like, but he could only think that they must have been like Carl. To have such a horrid start in life. Fifteen is too young to have your world turned upside down, your whole being changed. He couldn't imagine how awful that had been.

He could feel some sympathy toward Carl, but it still didn't make up for what he'd been put through. As if reading his thoughts, Janet spoke.

"I know that doesn't excuse what he did, but that's why he was that way. Jake... Jake actually had been with Carl throughout that experience. He hadn't been treated quite so bad mentally, but he had been beaten physically. I hadn't known him before then, but his mother told me that he was never a bad boy. Those men made them into monsters. Jake had no pity for the world after that. He felt that everyone deserved to be put through what he had been. And in a way, Carl did, too. They were never the same after that. I lost my Carl after that. He never looked at us the same way again. We hired psychiatrists, anyone who could help him. But nothing worked. The old Carl died. I never got him back."

Janet stood and got a tissue to wipe her wet eyes. It seemed so awful to tell the story about Carl. He deserved better in life, but he had been so horrid after the kidnapping. She remembered when she saw him strike a wounded bird for no reason; it was obvious that it was not done out of mercy. He had actual laughed after he had done it. Despite how he had become, Janet had still loved her boy. She just had to think of him as they way he had been before.

"Thank you," Charlie said to her when she turned around to face him once more. "I know that must have been hard."

"Thanks. It was."

Charlie smiled at her. Though her son had done such terrible things, he couldn't really blame her. She didn't seem like a bad person. She wasn't the monster he had thought her to be. She was a person. Just like everyone else. He hadn't seen it before, but he saw her how she was now. A mother who loved her son.

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Megan, Colby, and David went to CalSci. Though Larry had said he hadn't been at the campus, they had to find out where he may have gone. Even if it had only been a moment. Maybe he had passed by the campus and someone saw him. They would explore the possibilities. Charlie was one of their own. They had to find him.

They were questioning students in the cafeteria when they got their first lead. Megan was talking to a young man who said he had seen Charlie along the highway.

"Where was he? What was he doing?"

"He was just walking along the highway. I thought it was a dangerous place for him to be, so I was going to pull over to see if he needed a ride. I was too late, though, because a woman picked him up instead."

"Who was she? What did she look like?"

"I recognized her from the news. She had been on after her son was killed. Someone interviewed her or something. I thought it was strange that Charlie would get in the car with the mother of that guy who hurt him."

Megan's eyes widened as she turned away. "Thanks for your help," she said softly.

"No prob!" the student called after her.

Colby and David spotted Megan and saw the look on her face. They left the students they were questioning and came to her.

"What is it?" David asked.

"Charlie's with Carl Waits' mother."

Colby and David looked at each other in surprise. "Did he go willingly?" Colby asked

"I don't know. We need to get any information on her. I don't want her with that woman any longer."

David nodded. "I'll call back at the office and have them look her up."

"Good."

Megan walked outside and sat down as she waited for David. Colby came up and sat beside her. "You okay?"

"It's Carl's mother. Why should I be okay?"

Colby nodded in understanding. "We'll get him back. He'll be fine."

"I hope so."

Colby squeezed her hand comfortingly.

David came back shortly after. "I've got an address. Let's go."

The three agents went back to their car and drove off. Megan silently prayed that Charlie would be okay, and the other two joined her.

Alan returned from another search for Charlie. He went to every restaurant he could remember Charlie going to. He stopped by Margaret's grave. He could not find his son, and it terrified him. It had been hours, but how much longer had he been gone before he realized? How could he not notice his son was missing?

Don looked up when Alan came in. He was hoping to see Charlie, but wasn't too surprised when he didn't. "No luck?"

Alan shook his head grimly. "Nothing. I'm worried, Donny. Where could he be?"

Don shook his head. "I'll call Megan."

He took out his cell phone and dialed the familiar number. Megan answered on the second ring. "Hello?"

"It's Don. What's going on?"

Megan looked at Colby, who was in the back seat. "It's Don," she mouthed. She wasn't sure what to tell him. How could she tell him where Charlie was?

Colby held his hand out and took the phone from him.

"Hello?" Don asked, wondering what happened.

"It's me. Look, Don, we think we know where Charlie is."

"Really? Where?"

Colby sighed. This was the hard part. "One of the students at CalSci said they saw him get in the car with... with Janet Waits, Carl's mother."

Don's blood ran cold. With Carl's mother? Who knew what she might do to him? Maybe she was in on it with Jake!

"Don? It'll be okay, man. We're going to her house right now. We'll call you when we get him, okay?" Colby waited for a response. He didn't get one after three minutes had passed. "Don?"

"Okay."

"Good. We'll call you later. Bye."

Don just hung up the phone. He felt chills pass through his body. He pressed his hands to his face and moaned. Charlie, please be okay.

"Donny?" Alan spoke, startling his son. Don had forgotten that his father was there.

"What is it, son?"

Don sighed and looked up from his hands. "I'm going to get Charlie."

Don pushed himself up, gritting his teeth as pain erupted in his sides. Alan stood and pushed him back down. "No, you're not. Now, tell me. What's going on?"

Don looked up at his father, who stood above him. "He... he's with Carl Waits' mother."

Alan gasped, placing his hand over his mouth. "No. He-he can't be there!"

Don nodded in confirmation. "Colby, Megan, and David are going to get him right now... I'm scared, Dad."

Alan's heart broke at Don's confession. His son was almost never scared. And if he ever was, he would never let it show, much less voice his fear. Alan sat down on the couch beside him and stretched his arm across his shoulders and squeezed. "It'll be okay, Donny. Charlie will be okay."

Alan prayed that the three agents would be successful in getting his son back... in one piece.

"What happened to your husband?" Charlie asked, since she had never said anything about his death. A shadow passed over her face and she spoke in a harsh tone.

"Cancer... he died of cancer."

Realizing that she assumed he thought Carl had killed him, Charlie shook his head. "I was only asking. My mother died of cancer, too."

Janet's face softened. "I'm sorry. You know what it's like then."

"Well, for the most part. I... I wasn't with my mother the last three months of her life." Even now, Charlie felt the guilt.

"Oh? Why is that?"

"I... I couldn't deal with it. She was so sick, and, I... I was supposed to help her, fix her. Math was supposed to solve all the world's problems. Why not cancer, too?"

Janet nodded in understanding. "Yes, I know. I wanted to believe that if I was a better person, if I changed my ways, maybe God would show mercy toward my husband. He was my rock. I don't know how I've made it so long, having lost so many loved ones."

"You're a strong woman."

Janet smiled. "Thank you. Now that I've finally got you talking, what exactly were you running from?"

Charlie looked down at the floor. He wasn't running from something. He wasn't afraid. He was just trying to save his family. "I couldn't... couldn't wait around for my family to get hurt. Don had already been hurt once because of me. I won't let it happen again. So I won't be going back."

Janet paused, thinking about that. "Don't you think they'd be happier with you in their lives? Don't you think that they'd rather take the risk of getting hurt than live without you?"

Charlie shook his head. "They might be. But I don't want to give them that option. I could never live with myself if something happened to them. They're my life."

She knew what that was like. She watched Charlie as he rubbed his forehead and recognized the signs of a migraine. "You should go to bed, dear. I have a guest room, if you'd like to lie down for a while."

Charlie looked up at her and smiled. "That would be nice."

Janet led the way to a room on the top floor. Charlie took off his shoes and went to the bed. "Thank you, Janet."

"You're welcome. Sleep well."

Janet left Charlie in her guest room... Carl's old room.

Megan, David, and Colby were all outside the house. They had looked inside the house through binoculars and saw that Janet Waits was unarmed. Taking that as their sign to move in, the three agents opened the door without welcome.

Janet gasped as she stood quickly from her seat on the couch. "What are you doing?" she exclaimed.

"Where's Charlie?" David demanded, his voice threatening.

Suddenly a scream rang out and the agents recognized Charlie's voice.

Colby charged at her and pinned her against the wall, not caring one bit that she was a woman. "You'd better pray that he's all right."

While Colby kept an eye on Janet, Megan and David ran upstairs and found Charlie. He was not being attacked. He was having a nightmare. Megan walked to the bed and started shaking Charlie's shoulder. He thrashed about in the bed, looking as though he was throwing a temper tantrum. David came over and stayed his hands while Megan worked to wake him up.

"Charlie! Charlie, wake up!" she shouted until he finally jolted in the bed. He couldn't get up because David's hands pinned him down. When he saw he was awake, David let go.

"Are you all right?" Megan asked hurriedly, searching for injury on Charlie.

"I... I'm fine. What are you doing here?"

"Charlie, you've been missing. Your family has been worried sick. Hell, we have! Why wouldn't we be here?"

Charlie slowly sat up. "Because you're... you're not supposed to be here. I didn't want to be found. I... I don't want to go home."

Megan and David looked at each other. What did he mean?

"Come on, Charlie. We should go," Megan said, despite what Charlie had just said.

Charlie moved away from the two agents. "Don't you get it? I don't want to go home! I can't go home! Don nearly got killed because of me. I can't stand by and let him die! He and Dad will be better off without me. At least I'll know they're safe."

David and Megan could hardly believe what they were hearing. Charlie was so wrong. Don and Alan only suffered without Charlie. They were worried sick! They needed him, and he needed them. Why would they stand in their way?

"Charlie, listen to me. Your family is not going to be better off without me, understand? They need you, Charlie. They've been worried sick. We all have been. Please, Charlie. Come home with us. We won't let anything happen to Don or Alan."

"You can't guarantee that. No one can guarantee the future, at least not my future."

"Yes, I can. You and your family are going to get through this, but you can't do it while you're separated. You have to work this out together."

Charlie looked away from the agent's face. Resigned, he let David lead him outside. Colby let go of Janet's arm when the agents came down with Charlie. He was relieved to see his friend okay. Perhaps they had all been too close to the case, but he couldn't imagine anyone who could have stopped them from searching for Charlie. He was glad they had been successful.

After confirming that Janet had not taken Charlie against his will, the agents drove Charlie home. Alan was watching the window impatiently when they pulled into the driveway. He turned to Don, who was looking equally anxious.

"They're here!" he shouted, running for the door.

Alan met the agents as they opened up the door. Colby helped an exhausted Charlie out of the back seat and Alan ran up and swallowed his son in a tight embrace. Charlie held onto his father in return, though it felt forced. He had wanted to be home. It was the place he always wanted to be. But this time, he knew he couldn't be there. He couldn't put his family's lives at risk. It was too dangerous for them, for himself, to be near them. Maybe he should leave again. But being back with them, though not even after a day, Charlie couldn't imagine leaving them again.

Alan kissed his son on the forehead, then let him go so he could go inside to Don. Alan hugged the three agents who had brought his little boy home, thanking each one for helping.

Charlie stood at the closed front door. He knew Don would be waiting anxiously, with no way of getting to him because of his injuries. He didn't want to face his brother. He didn't want him to get hurt. How could he have let it happen before? How could he live with himself for being responsible for Don getting shot?

With more courage than he thought he had, Charlie opened the door and walked to the living room, seeing the back of Don's head. Don quickly turned to face his brother and Charlie was surprised to see tears in his eyes.

"Buddy." The one word held all the worry and love Don felt toward his little brother. Charlie eagerly circled the couch and sat beside his brother and was immediately pulled into a hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay."

"I'm sorry," Charlie cried once more. He had never meant for his brother to get hurt.

"You're home now, Charlie. It's okay, Buddy."

Charlie was home, but it definitely was not okay.

Oh, another delay to updating. My apologies once more. Well, part of this was FraidyCat's idea again, so thank you once more for that! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I'm sorry Carl's story didn't end up being all that exciting. I wanted it to have a big bang to it, but I just couldn't pull anything together for it. I hope it was believable, though. Sorry again for the jumping around, but their were just so many point of views I had to get in! Thanks for reading. I'll see you next chapter, whenever that may be. LOL

As you can see, I somehow managed to come out of my Numb3rs-induced depression over beloved Colby. I even had him in this chapter. sniffles It was hard, but I did it. That did affect the timing of my updating.