Disclaimer: I don't own Numb3rs.
When Alan returned home, Charlie launched himself at his father and began rambling about his weekend with Don.
"He was pretty good," Don explained to his father. He hadn't thought Charlie would be bad, but Alan thought otherwise.
"That's great," Alan said, smiling. Don may have thought Charlie was good, but Alan had wondered how Charlie would react without both parents around. Alan and Don were still skirting around the issue of Margaret. Alan didn't want to break his youngest son's heart.
A month passed, and Charlie stayed the same age. However, he became suspicious of Margaret's "business trip".
"I think you lied about Mommy. Where is she?" Charlie asked Alan. Alan stared at his youngest son. He had been expecting this, since Charlie was a genius, but not this soon.
Alan sighed. "Charlie, I didn't lie about Mommy. She's away for work. I promise you that she'll be back soon," he lied. Alan didn't know how much longer he could keep this up.
Charlie sighed and decided let it go. He'd get it out of his father or Donnie eventually. Donnie was acting different around him now. He didn't seem mad about when he got "lost" on his birthday, but he had been before. Donnie had also seemed sad too, like he thought it was his fault or something.
"What are you going to do with him tomorrow?" Don asked his father. He was quickly becoming overprotective of the eight year old. Don loved both versions of his brother, but he missed his Charlie.
"I took off work," Alan explained. He wanted to spend some time with the eight year old before he realized why Margaret wasn't around.
"Dad, you should hire a baby-sitter or something," Don told his father. They couldn't watch Charlie all by themselves for ten months.
"Donnie, we'll deal with that later," Alan said. As irrational as it was, he didn't want Charlie to have a baby-sitter.
"Are you going to see Robin?" Charlie asked his brother. He hoped Robin came over. She played with him sometimes.
"I don't know, Buddy," Don told him. He loved Robin, but his currently eight year old brother was a priority right now.
"Tell her hi," Charlie instructed. He sighed and went to go work on some math problems that Amita had given him earlier in the day.
"I probably will," Don admitted to his father. Charlie had grown attached to both Robin and Amita.
The doorbell rang and Alan answered the door. Amita looked sick.
"What's wrong?" Don asked her. She was pale.
Amita sighed. "I haven't been feeling well this weekend. I didn't know why I was sick, but it hit me today. I'm pregnant," she explained.
Don and Alan stared at her in shock. They couldn't believe Charlie had knocked up his girlfriend and couldn't even be there for her right now.
"We'll be with you every step of the way," Alan assured her. He was so happy that he was going to be a grandfather, but the older version of Charlie would probably miss his baby's birth.
"Thanks," Amita replied. She still couldn't believe she was going to have a baby. No wonder she had been dreaming about curly-headed kids.
"Congratulations," Don told her. He was excited about becoming an uncle. He and Robin had talked it over and had decided to have kids soon.
"I have to go. Tell Charlie I said hello," Amita answered. She left the house. Amita and Charlie had been discussing moving in, but that probably wouldn't happen until Charlie was back to normal.
"That was really unexpected," Don said to his father as they went into the living. Charlie was working on his problems and watching TV at the same time.
Alan agreed. "How are we going to tell him? He's not his normal self," he pointed out. There was no way that he and Don were going to tell an eight year old that his girlfriend was pregnant.
"We'll think about that later," Don decided. He wasn't even sure on how to approach the subject.
"Have you heard from Megan recently?" Alan asked. She and Larry were still together and going strong, but he hadn't asked him.
Don nodded. "I called her to tell her what happened to Charlie and she started laughing. Larry called her too and she laughed then," he explained.
"I want Charlie to get back to normal," Don confessed to his father. He figured Alan did too.
"It's not to make the next ten months go by fast," Alan replied. He loved both of his sons, but taking care of an eight year old was tiring.
"It's nearly a year. It's going to go slow no matter what," Don pointed out. He didn't know how far along Amita was, but he knew she would give birth before the ten months was up. Poor Charlie would miss out on everything.
The Eppes family could get through anything, and they would prove that.
TBC
I'm so sorry I didn't update sooner. Writer's block got to me, along with the death of one of my cats. I promise the next update will be very soon. The Amita pregnancy was planned for awhile. Look for the update next week some time.
Please review and tell me what you think. It helps me to become a better writer.