AlienaCooper: No, that's not too nasty of you. Though I'm the bitch who broke them up, so I might not be the best judge of these things.

Ddee: Yeah, Ian understands the whole obsession thing, since he's pretty big on the guns. Was there a particular scene that led you to think Don/Charlie? I've never written that before, though I can see the lulz-potential. It would amp up the protectiveness even more.

Robertaa: No CSI crossover, since I don't watch that show. But if you're reading NSITH as well, some of the CSI: Miami crew pop up in that one from time to time.

The rest: Thanks for reviewing, and my apologies for taking so long.

This chapter is for Allieluvsedward, who has bugged me via pm until I updated. Sorry it took a little longer than promised.

-BDBD-

Chapter Nine: Surprises Abound When Cupid's In Town. In which several people think over their life choices.

Charlie collapsed on the bed in her hotel room, exhausted but content. She'd been in Las Vegas for four nights, and was having a blast. Keeping Larry's hints in mind, she was managing to win decent amounts, while not drawing attention to herself. Granted, she'd taken a few losses, but she was doing a little better than breaking even.

I should call Dad in the morning, she thought sleepily. Charlie had called him the morning after arriving, but hadn't contacted him since. She'd simply been too busy to find the time, and too contented to risk having a confrontation with Don.

It wasn't happiness, though. This was a nice holiday, but she wasn't fooling herself into believing it could be permanent. There were too many people for her to be completely comfortable, and sooner or later, Charlie knew that she'd have to move on.

Sighing, she rolled off the bed and sat on the floor, thinking over her resources. She'd managed to clear a couple of months off with the Dean, so she had time to get herself sorted out. Staying here, though, wasn't really an option. It was a fairly cheap hotel, but after a couple of weeks it would start to feel like a prison.

What she really needed, she figured, was a place where she could hide for a while, but still have some connection to the real world.

Thinking over her options – and considering returning to England for a while – Charlie pulled herself off the floor and started to get ready for bed.

-BDBD-

Back in LA, Don was spending a lot of time at the batting cages. Every member of his team had tried getting him to come back to himself, to no avail. Colby got snapped at. Megan's attempts were met with silence. David was told, politely but firmly, to take a hike.

At work he was fine. Don seemed able to shut all his worry, anger and disappointment away into a separate compartment which wasn't allowed to open itself when he was working, and then it all came flooding out later.

Even though it wasn't affecting his solve rate, his team was concerned. There just didn't seem to be much that they could do about it.

Then, a week after Charlie ran away, and still hadn't talked directly to her big brother, Amit came to the cages and just sat. He watched until Don flung the bat down in disgust and joined him.

"You gonna start now?" He growled, obviously in a temper.

"Nope," Amit shook his head. "I came to apologise."

"Oh?" Don raised an eyebrow. This is a new tactic, he thought as he accepted the bottle of water Amit held out.

"It's my fault that Charlie found out about the whole engagement thing. So if you want to blame me, go ahead."

After thinking about it for a moment, Don sighed and shook his head.

"Nah. If this is how she really feels, the reaction would have been the same if Colby had gotten to propose himself. I've been blaming myself for putting too much pressure on her. I mean, I knew she was busy, but I kept asking for more."

Amit smiled and shook his head.

"You do realise that, technically, Charlie's an adult? If she really couldn't do something, she could have put her foot down and said so. I know she finds that hard to do, but she could have done it."

"Yeah," Don nodded. "I think that's what she's doing now. Putting her foot down and asserting herself."

"So no more blaming yourself, right?"

"Right," The two men shared a smile over the absent professor, then Don glanced at his watch.

"It's getting late. You wanna go for a beer?"

"Sure. And you can tell me more about yourself – I don't really know much about you outside of 'Charlie's Big Brother' and 'Super FBI Agent'."

Don laughed as he gathered his gear. It seemed that Charlie taking off had a silver lining – it was leading to more time spent with someone who had the potential to be a good friend.

-BDBD-

Megan stood in front of her mirror, brushing out her hair and thinking fondly of Charlie's odd friend, Professor Fleinhardt. She'd gone to CalSci the previous day to get him and Amit to help with a case, and had been struck by how… earnest he was. He didn't mind if people thought him odd, he didn't mind if people operated on different intellectual levels to him. He just accepted people as they were and did his best to help them reach their goals.

Larry was sweet, and cute in a professor-type way. And slowly, as she had more encounters with him, Megan found herself falling in love with him.

Sighing, Megan replaced her brush and started to apply her makeup. It was always the same – girls liked the jocks in school, and the geeks once they matured. She finished with her makeup and eyed herself critically, then nodded in satisfaction.

Megan Reeves was a woman who knew what – or who – she wanted. And with this look, she was fairly sure she could get him.

After all, with all the crazies she dealt with on a daily basis, she could do a lot worse than a man who only ate white food.

-BDBD-

"Hey David," Colby started hesitantly. Everyone had been a little stilted towards him since Charlie took off, even his partner, and things were only just starting to go back to normal.

"Yeah?"

"Is something going on between Don and that Amit guy?"

"What?" David looked shocked, then laughed. "No way, man. Don's a ladies' man all the way. Even got engaged once."

"You sure?" Colby asked doubtfully. "Cause from where I'm standing, it sure looks like they're flirting.

At that, David paused and turned to look.

Amit had helped out with a case for the past couple of days, and had stuck around for debriefing. While he was no Charlie, he was still a very intelligent young man. Right now, he was sitting at a table in the war-room. Don was half-sitting on the edge of the table and looking smug, haven stolen Amit's notepad and managing to keep it out of the younger man's reach.

David considered his boss, thinking about the possibilities.

He then turned and watched as Larry and Megan were heading towards the elevators, walking close together and smiling. David and Colby shared a look.

"Guess Cupid's come to town," Colby shrugged.

David nodded and cracked a grin.

"Maybe so, but we are definitely not pairing up."

-BDBD-

Charlie took a deep breath as she stepped out of the taxi. She'd spent two weeks recharging in Vegas and was ready to move on to the next stage of her search for balance.

That didn't mean it was easy, though.

She paid the driver and shouldered her backpack, before slowly making her way up to the front door. She knocked and played with a strand of hair while she waited.

After a minute and forty-three seconds – not that she was counting or anything – the door opened to reveal Ian Edgerton.