Title: Wrecked
Author: Roth
Rating: T
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: I do not own the idea, characters, nor concept of Numb3rs.
Summary: This is kind of a missing scene type story for the episode Breaking Point. It is similar to the story shattered that I wrote, but this one is from Charlie's POV.
Note: The truth is I was meaning to do a completely different scene for this chapter, but I had watched the episode for awhile, and forgot the scene wasn't part of this one, so instead of deleting all this wonderful work, I changed the story. Enjoy!
Wrecked
Chapter III: Numbers on a Page
"I, a stranger and afraid, in a world I never made." A. E. Houseman
Amita stood next to me as I watched David do a search of my office; to put it bluntly, I couldn't believe it.
"Aw, come on man. Now this is ridiculous. There's not going to be anyone in my office."
"You know, Charlie, you really can't be too careful." I could understand why Amita was siding with David, but I really just wanted to forget the incident from the night before and let my life get back to normal.
"You're wrong." I know I was going to regret saying that later. "This is proof right here that you can be too careful."
David turned around. "Charlie, if anything happened to you on my watch, Don would have my head." That effectively shut me up because well...it was true. "Kay? Let me do my job." He scanned the office a little more and then turned back to Amita and me. "It's clear."
"Thank you." I entered my office. "Did you bring the numbers?" David pulled them from the inside of his jacket and handed them to me.
"What numbers?" asked Amita, walking over to the desk; I was not looking forward to this conversation. "What is that?"
David decided to explain. "It's..uh..a list of numbers we found in Bonnie Parks's office."
Amita looked between David and I, and he did the smart thing by turning away. "Charlie, you're not still working on this case?"
I opened the paper and started to look at the numbers. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Amita looked at me like I was crazy, which I probably was. "I mean do I really need to explain this to you?"
I shook my head. "What happened shouldn't change anything." It did though. "In fact, I'd rather just forget that it happened at all." I really would.
"Oh, that's a really rational plan." I could tell David was beginning to get uncomfortable. "I mean it really works for ostriches." Great, I was now a bird who shoved my head underground. I ignored her and continued looking at the numbers. She got frustrated and reached over to take the pages from my hands.
"Charlie, please. You should not be working-"
I pulled the pages back and turned toward her. "I have to!"
Amita stared at me, looking hurt. I was no longer an ostrich; I was an ass. "Okay," she said after a moment and then walked out of my office.
David turned back to me and tried to lighten the mood. "Hey...uh...if I could have ducked out during the middle of that, I would have."
"Yup." I looked back to the door Amita'd left through. "Me too."
I really just wanted to forget that any of this had happened, but it was getting harder and harder, and now, I'd made myself a complete ass in front of Amita. Things were not going well.
TBC