Thanks for all the comments guys, here's another little interlude before things heat up again. In the next chapter, Charlie and Colby meet. What fun! In the tally, we're currently at eight votes all – with a couple of interesting suggestions on the side.
Also, the lovely Jadvisioness is currently helping to beta the sequel to Sniping Equations. I know, I know, another WIP… but at least there's someone with my email address to berate me if I don't update it, and I actually have a plan for that one. Rather than this, which is more along the lines of 'what shall I torture them all with this week?' First chapter should be up in a few days – look out for No Shooting In The House.
Interlude Two: Points of View. The fallout from 'the boyfriend argument', as seen from four different perspectives.
-BD-
Alan sighed as he struggled with his crossword. Don sat nearby on the couch, watching the TV, while Charlie was at the table behind them, working on something. Things were finally getting back to normal. For about two weeks after the fight at the airport, Don and Charlie had tip-toed around each other, not entirely sure how to act. Then Don had a case that needed Charlie's maths, and the two had come to some sort of arrangement where neither would mention their argument, or the circumstances leading up to it. Alan was pretty sure that Charlie still hadn't mentioned who it was she'd been seeing, but as she hadn't seen him again, it didn't really matter anymore.
Don stole a glance at his little sister, apparently happily engrossed in her work, and once again kicked himself for allowing his temper to get the better of him. There was just something about Charlie that made him so much more liable to lose control. He guessed that Megan, his new partner, was probably right in her assessment – he'd never grown past the stage where he had to protect Charlie from the bullies at school. Turning back to the TV, he tried to concentrate on the game. Now if he could just remember who was playing what.
Charlie glanced over at Don and stifled a frustrated groan. Things had been going so well, and then Don had to go and ruin it by being his normal over-protective, aggressive self. Not that she was at all to blame for losing her temper as well… okay she could have handled the fight better. It was just so hard, trying have a love life when Don always found a way of messing things up. Though that wasn't really fair either – she'd messed up just fine on her own before he'd come back from New Mexico. She turned back to her work, biting back a frustrated growl. Why couldn't things work out how they were meant to, just once?
And from her perch in Heaven, Margaret wanted to reach down and smack all three of them around the head. Honestly – how could one family be so dense?