Charlie sat down on the couch while his father prepared an early supper for them. He closed his eyes as he leaned his head against the back of the couch. His head hurt again, but he chose to ignore it.

"You okay, Buddy?" Don asked as he sat down beside his brother on the couch.

Charlie smiled in response. "Yeah, I'm okay. We're all together again."

Don smiled, too. "It's good to be back."

The feeling of emptiness was gone for Don. He couldn't bring himself to leave his family like that again. He needed them. It had been too hard trying to stay away. The only thing that allowed him to get through it was the anger. And even that hadn't survived when loneliness crept in.

"I'm tired," Charlie yawned out.

"Go to sleep then."

"No, Dad will have supper ready soon."

"Charlie, you have plenty of time to take a nap. What's the matter? You don't feel well?" Alan said as he came into the living room.

"I'm just tired, Dad."

"Well, go to sleep. Supper won't be ready for a while."

"Okay. Wake me up when it's ready."

"Will do."

Charlie groggily walked up the steps and went into his room. He collapsed onto his bed. He moaned as he rolled over and pressed his face into the pillow. His head throbbed with every heart beat, signaling a massive migraine. He hoped he'd be able to sleep it off.

Downstairs, Don and Alan were sitting on the couch. Feeling the weight of missing his son, Alan had to hug his son again.

"I missed you so much."

"I know, Dad. I missed you, too."

"So how are you? Are you okay? Are you and your brother all right?"

"Yeah. We're fine. Dad, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course. What is it?"

Don licked his lips in a nervous gesture. "How bad did my leaving affect Charlie, honestly?"

Alan sighed as he remembered the pain his youngest had endured. "It... it was painfully hard on him. I-I've never seen him so upset. After he was asked to leave school, I found him at the beach. He was waiting for the tide to take him out, literally."

"What? Why?"

Alan shook his head. "I've never seen him so hopeless. He'd just... he'd given up. It hurt him, Donnie. It hurt him real bad."

"Don felt moisture come to his eyes. "I-I never meant for that to happen, Dad. I swear I didn't."

"Hush. I know you didn't. You were hurt. Charlie and I both knew that. It's okay."

"Charlie didn't have to feel so bad. I overreacted. This never should have happened."

"Son, you can't change what's already happened. It's okay now. We're all together again and all is forgiven."

"Has Charlie... has he talked to you much about losing his sight in his left eye?"

"He's barely spoken a word about it to me. The only time he did was when I first found out, but it wasn't to complain. He was just begging me not to tell you."

"Damn. He's too strong and independent for his own good."

Alan smiled. "I'm sure he'd love to hear you say that. He spent most of his time when we discussed it convincing me that he is stronger than we give him credit for."

"Well, he proved that. Who can honestly say they'd handle it like he did? It's inhuman."

"I know. I'm quite proud of him. He took a lot on himself to protect us. Not many can say they'd do the same."

"I know."

Alan stood and started for the kitchen. "Supper should be ready in a little less than an hour if you want to take some time to get cleaned up. I brought the rest of your bags in."

"Thanks, Dad. I will."

Don went upstairs after taking out a clean set of clothes. He took a long shower. When he got out, he was hoping that it'd be long enough before dinner so he could take a nap. The hot shower made him drowsy. However, Alan called up to him that it was time to eat soon after he was finished. He walked across the hall to his brother's room. Standing over his brother's sleeping form, Don smiled proudly at Charlie. He couldn't imagine what all Charlie had gone through. It wasn't fair for him to push away all his pains to take on someone else's. Charlie deserved a chance to feel bad about what happened to him. Instead, Charlie felt bad only about hurting his brother and worried about how he could protect Don. It wasn't fair.

Don reached out and shook his brother's shoulder and got a groan in response.

"Come on, Buddy. It's time to eat. You were the one who said for us to wake you up in time and you said you were starved."

"Bring me a glass of water and two aspirins. That sounds good enough for me."

Don frowned in concern. "Your head still hurt, Buddy?"

He gently laid his hand on his brother's forehead.

"Yes. Please don't touch it. It only makes it worse."

"Sorry. I'll go get you that aspirin."

Don knew he'd have questions to answer when he came back from giving Charlie the aspirin. Alan knew something was up and he'd be determined to find out what.

"What's going on? Where's Charlie?" Alan asked immediately.

"His head hurts, so he's going to stay in bed."

"Why does his head hurt? Did he get hurt again and not tell me?"

"No, Dad, calm down, all right? His head just hurts. I-I think it's some sort of ghost pain or something."

"What makes you say that?"

"He had a nightmare last night about when that son of a bitch hit him with a baseball bat. Now his head hurts."

"Oh, poor Charlie. I should go check on him." Alan stood from the table and began to go to his youngest.

"No, Dad, don't. His head hurts right now. He needs rest. Just leave him alone. He said he hasn't been sleeping well lately anyway."

"What? I never noticed that."

"Probably because you're asleep. Look, it's fine. Just let him sleep it off."

"Okay. But if he hasn't gotten up in two hours, I'll go check on him."

"You do that. For now, let's eat."

After supper, Don beat his father at checking on Charlie. Don went into his brother's room and sat on the bed beside Charlie. He was concerned with the pained expression on his brother's face. Gently he brushed his hand over his brother's curls. He smiled when the repeated motion seemed to calm Charlie.

"Gosh, Charlie. Do you have any idea how proud I am of you? You are... such an amazing person. Really, you astound me. I can't understand how you got to be so strong without my knowing it. I don't think you realize how rare it is to find someone like you. You're brilliant as hell, stop at nothing to protect your family, and don't bother to take a moment for yourself, even when you deserve it.

"I went away because I was hurt, I felt betrayed, and I was mad at you. I kept telling myself to be mad at you because that let me keep on making you the bad guy. If I wasn't mad at you, I'd see that you were trying to protect me and you were doing the same thing I've done for you. I was too stupid to see you were equally as strong as me. Hell, Charlie, you are even stronger, in different ways.

"Of course, I could never tell you all this when you're awake. No, that would definitely make you be the stronger one. I'm sorry I don't talk about these kinds of things with you. I'm afraid of you being stronger than me. You're already so much smarter, Buddy. I figured you could have intelligence as long as I could have strength.

"What I should say to you when you're awake, but won't, is that I love you. I love you and I'm so proud of you for being a better person than me. And I'm sorry I couldn't see all this sooner. It would have saved us both a lot of trouble."

Don was about to get up when his brother surprised him.

"Stop patronizing me," Charlie said with his eyes still closed.

Don jumped at the sound of his brother's voice. He smiled nervously. "How much of that did you hear?"

"Enough." Actually, he had heard the whole thing.

"Okay. I'll let you sleep then." Embarrassed, Don started to get off the bed. Charlie grabbed his arm to stop him, though.

"No. Wait. I...I appreciate what you said, Don. I don't think - actually I know - half of it isn't true, but I thank you for saying it. You didn't have to."

"Yeah, I did, Buddy. I had to say it because I believe it. I don't care what you think. I know it's true."

Charlie smiled. "Thanks."

"No problem, Buddy. Go back to sleep."

"Okay. What are you going to do?"

"I think you have the right idea. I'm heading to my room to take a nap."

"Your room?" Charlie grinned.

"Shut up. You know what I mean."

"I'm just teasing. Good night, Donnie."

"Good night, Buddy."

Don smiled as he left his brother's room. He went to "his room" and quickly fell asleep since he could rest easy after getting that off his chest.

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Though he had three more days left on his vacation, Don decided to go back to work. One of the first things he noticed when he arrived was Megan's reaction to him coming out of the elevator.

"Reeves. I'd like to see you in my office," Don said coolly as he passed her desk.

"Yes, sir." Megan slowly stood and followed hin into his office. Don closed the door behind them and sat behind his desk.

"Lucky for you, you're off the hook over what hapened. However, I need to know that you'll be able to keep your work and your personal life separate."

"Of course."

"Good."

"Don, if I may say so, I-I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about Charlie. I assume you've worked it out with him, and I'm happy for you. It-it was so hard on Charlie. I won't say another word on the subject now, if you don't want me to."

Don smiled softly. "Yes, we have worked it out. I was wondering, what happened to Charlie when I was gone that you know of?"

Megan's eyes watered as she thought of how upset Charlie had been after finding out that Don was leaving. "He... he took your leaving really hard. He thought he'd lost you forever and that killed him. I don't think he could survive you leaving again."

"Thanks. Now you can get back to work."

"Of course."

After Megan left and closed the door behind her, Don felt emotion clog his throat. He pushed it away with a few deep breaths and a change in mood.

How could Charlie think he'd lost him forever? Don had been mad, but never could he stay away for long. That hadn't been the case when he was younger, but that had changed now. He was too close to his family now. He'd never stay away for so long again if he could help it.

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Charlie thankfully was allowed to return to school the next day, too. He was happy to find his concentration was back, as well. The migraine had gone away, leaving him feeling healthy and happy to be back.

Larry, as Charlie expected, came to see him shortly after he had talked to the president. The two had not seen each other since Charlie was asked to leave.

Larry knocked on the door frame. "Charles? May I come in?"

Charlie looked up at the noise and smiled. "Of course, Larry. Come on in."

Larry smiled with relief, knowing his friend must be better.

"I see you've returned to work. I must say, that is a relief."

"Why is that?"

"Well, it should mean that your brother quarrel has ended. Am I right?"

"Yes, Larry, you are."

"Wonderful. You know, Megan and I were so worried about you. It was a little disturbing seeing you so low."

"I'm sorry if I caused you any extra burden, Larry." Charlie frowned. He hadn't meant to put his burden on anyone else.

"Nonsense, Charles. As a matter of fact, you need to lighten your load on others more often, not that you had this time."

Charlie chuckled. "Well, that won't be happening any time soon."

"And why not? You shouldn't be solely independent. No one can be. That's why we have friends and family. Tell me, what purpose do your friends and family have on your life?" Larry held his chin in his hand as he waited on an answer.

Charlie felt embarrassed because he had to think about it. "Well, they're there to love and support me. They're always open to discussions and respect my views. Um, my family takes care of me and is unconditionally my back up."

"Exactly. Now, when was the last time you came to one of your family members or friends and asked them for some help?"

"Specify what kind of help."

"Physical, emotional. When have you felt down and alone and have come to someone to get help?"

Charlie definitely had to think about this one. When he took too long, Larry called him out on it.

"You see? Charles, you tell me your friends and family are there to support you, yet you're hypocritical in the fact that you don't let them support you. You don't need support right now because you take care of yourself. Think about it. Use them for what they're worth. I bet you can remember the last time someone came to you for support."

Leaving on that note, Larry returned to his office.

Charlie sank onto his desk chair. Was he really that independent? He tried to lay that description on Don, but it worked for him as well.

Charlie was only dependent on himself. Sure, he was dependent on his father when it came to house hold chores. But he could still do them. But now was a perfect example of how independent he was.

He hid the truth about his eye from everyone he knew. He didn't come to Larry or Amita. He didn't tell his father. No, he kept it to himself and held the emotions inside, except for the times where it overwhelmed him to the point of tears.

He held it all inside just to protect Don. He could have trusted any of his friends with the information. Charlie should know they wouldn't tell. Instead, he kept the information to himself and fought it alone.

Charlie felt remorse because Larry seemed hurt that he hadn't confided in him. He should have. It would have made life easier on him.

That night, Don came over to join Alan and Charlie for dinner. Both he and Alan noticed Charlie's lack of enthusiasm. After they'd eaten, they confronted him about it.

"Buddy? You okay?" Don asked his little brother who was sitting across from him.

"Am I... am I too independent?" Charlie asked after he looked up from his cup of iced tea.

"What kind of question is that? What brought this on?"

Alan looked from Charlie to Don.

"Larry said something today and I just...I can't help but think he's right."

"What did he talk to you about?" Don asked.

"Just... I don't know. He asked me what purpose you guys had in my life and it just seemed that the purposes I listed didn't actually match what you do for me."

"Well, Charlie, I believe you are too independent at times, but your mother and I raised you boys to be that way. Of course, that plan seemed to backfire now that you boys basically depend on yourselves."

"Honestly, though. I-I told Larry that I depend on my family and friends to be my support. But when I found out that I was going to be blind in my left eye for the rest of my life, I didn't tell anyone. I didn't trust anyone else with that information because I was too independent. I could have told any one of my friends and I know they wouldn't have told Don. But I only trusted myself to keep it a secret. Why did I do that? It would have been so much easier on me to share my burden."

Alan smiled as he stood and rounded the table to go to his youngest son. Don was thinking about how much Charlie's story sounded like him.

"Charlie, it wasn't a crime that you didn't tell anyone. You were only punishing yourself. It's true, we're here for you so you can tell us things like that. But that doesn't mean you have to. What you choose to tell and not tell us is up to you. You just have to remember that no matter how heavy it feels when you carry it alone, it'll always be lighter when you let someone else help you carry it. It's basic math, Charlie."

Charlie smiled at his father and reached out to hug him. "Thanks, Dad."

"You're welcome, kiddo."

Don smiled across the table at Charlie. "I'm glad you talked about this with us. It reminds me that I need to be more open with you two, too. We're both like that."

"Don't I know it. Now, I have an apple pie ready for us to eat if anyone's interested."

Charlie and Don smiled at each other. "That sounds great, Dad."

Though no pains were shared that night, the promise of later discussion hung in the air. Both sons knew they could count on each other. That's what their family did. Since they were there, they might as well take the chance of extra help.

Well, I'm pretty lame. I'm updating on Thanksgiving. Really, what makes me think you'd want to take time away from your holiday to read this? LOL Oh, well. I am having a fun Thanksgiving and am already as stuffed as our 18 pound turkey. There's always room for seconds, though.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Eat up!

This chapter's title comes from the song "Help" by the Beatles. Thank you to D. Lerious for this title!

BTW, have I not used a lyric from someone who has given me titles? I want to make sure I get everyone's in because they were all so good!