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Title: Obsession

Author: 1st endeavor

Disclaimer: See Prologue

A/N: I really appreciate your reviews.

Sun-Tzu The Art of War

Therefore , if able, appear unable

If near, appear far

Chapter 4:

Tuesday evening:

The Craftsman was the only true place that Don could go and be totally at ease. Even in his own apartment he could not find the comfort that he needed . The only place he could find that feeling was at his childhood home. Although it belonged to his brother now, it still felt like the home that he had grown up in and many times after a bad day he would go there and unwind with his Dad and brother.

Today was no exception and with the hope of improving on how things would go tomorrow, he had brought with him the personnel file of Detective O'Connell. Hoping to gain some insight into the man, Don had been perusing his file for about forty-five minutes but to no avail. He had found nothing that would explain the man's odd behavior.

Don rubbed his eyes and glanced over at his father . Alan was sitting in another armchair directly across from him, studiously going over his class notes for his upcoming finals in his mechanical engineering course at Calsci.

"Your taking that class pretty seriously, huh? He asked with a teasing tone in his voice.

Alan looked up and pushed his glasses back in place. "I'm not going to let you bait me tonight, oh son of mine. You will have to find something else to do for your entertainment."

"Ah….come one Dad." he said, "I' need a break, how about you?"

"No, I can't, I really have to get this done." However, Alan was curious about the file that Don was reading so he took the opportunity to find out what it was . He motioned toward the file in his son's hand. "What have you got there Donnie?

The smile faded from Don's face as he closed the folder.

"Just a file on a detective from Ireland . He's says he's here to study our techniques in crime solving….but….I don't know. He's a real hard ass, and I just can't figure him out." Don stood up and stretched his back. "He's supposed to be here for a month, if we don't kill him first."

"Come on Donnie, the man can't be that bad."

"Dad, at this point we are considering drawing straws to see who gets to do it, and it's only been two days."

"I'm going to grab a beer, would you like one?'

"No, thanks son."

Don headed for the kitchen but stopped by the dining room table. "Where did you say Charlie was tonight?"

"He said he had some late office hours. You know how he is with finals coming up, he likes to be available for the students, in case they need any help.." Alan answered without looking up.

"Right." his son murmured as he continued on out to the kitchen.

A few minutes later Don returned from the kitchen with a beer in hand and settled back down in the chair propping one leg up on the small table in front of him.

"Maybe I should go and check up on him… make sure he's okay."

This time Alan did look up and peering over the top of his glasses he remarked.

"What's up, what's got you so edgy?"

Don shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, just a feeling. After what happened before…. I just get a little nervous when he's not here."

Alan pulled his glasses off and stared at his son. "I seem to recall that you once told me that he ... let's see how did you put it, ah yes, that he was a grown man. Does that sound familiar?"

"Yeah, yeah." Don said as he scrubbed a hand through his hair. " Look, Dad, I know what I said and I know that he's a grown man. It's just that I worry about him, especially after the kidnapping last year." he stopped talking and took a sip of his beer.

"Donnie," Alan sighed. "I feel the same way you do but he has to live his own life and you and I will just have to deal with it."

The sound of a key turning in a lock caused them both to turn toward the front door just as a tired Charlie Eppes stepped through the doorway. He turned and closed it behind him before setting his bag down and putting his keys in the green fluted bowl on the round table in the foyer. The young man shrugged out of his jacket and hung it on a peg near the door before shuffling over to the couch.

"Hey guys" he said tiredly as he sat down and sighing audibly he closed his eyes and leaned back against the cushions.

"Hey Chuck, what happened?" Don couldn't help himself, he loved to tease his brother. "Maybe you shouldn't make your classes so tough, then you wouldn't have to stay late and explain it again."

Charlie managed to open one eye and glare at his brother, "You know Donald, one of these days I'm going to get you in front of a blackboard and make you write the "Eppes Convergence" over and over again until you fully understand it." His eye closed once again as he burrowed deeper into the sofa cushions.

"Ouch!" his brother responded grinning from ear to ear, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

"What do you think Dad, does that sound like a threat to you.? " Don made himself more comfortable and took another drink of his beer.

"You better watch it bro, I think you just threatened a Federal Officer. I just might have to take you in.?"

Charlie didn't even bother to open his eyes this time, he just replied.. "Yeah, I'd like to see you try and do it, G-man."

Alan couldn't help but smile at the banter between his sons; they had come such a long way and a rocky relationship that had begun when they were children, had grown into a true friendship between brothers. If only his Margaret could have lived to see how close the boys had finally become.

A knock at the door interrupted Don's retort to his brother's challenge.

"I suppose I should get that." Charlie mumbled without making a move or even opening his eyes.

"Naw, I'll get it bro, just stay where you are." Don said as he got up from the chair. " Are you guys expecting anyone?"

Without waiting for an answer he walked over and opened the door and found himself face to face with a stranger.

The man was tall and thin and stood slightly hunched over. He had sandy blonde hair that was long enough to touch the collar of his sweatshirt and Don put his age somewhere in his mid-fifties.

The agent took all of this in a matter of seconds and as he looked into the man's green eyes he asked.

"Can I help you?"

The man's timid voice seemed to emphasize his Scottish accent as he answered Don's question. "Ah…yes…ah…this is a bit awkward."

" My name is Angus Fitzgerald and I've just leased the Patterson's residence across the street." He motioned to the house behind him as he spoke and then extended his hand toward Don.

Don shook his hand and introduced himself. "Don Eppes."

The man continued on in his friendly manner. "I was told by a few of the other neighbors that you have a koi pond."

"Yeah, what about it?" the agent asked.

"Well, I'm rather knew at taking care of koi, and I was hoping that you could give me a few pointers."

Don smiled and shook his head. "Then you need to talk to my father, he's the resident expert on koi."

Angus stepped inside and looked around as Don closed the door behind him.

"You have a beautiful home." he commented to the younger man.

"Actually, it's my brother's house." the agent remarked as he lead the man to the living room.

Alan looked up as they entered the room and quickly set his papers aside as he stood up to greet them.

Don glanced at his brother only to find that he had apparently fallen asleep. Charlie had taken off his shoes and was stretched out on the couch with one arm crossed over his eyes.

"Dad, this is Angus Fitzgerald, he's renting the Patterson's house."

Angus offered his hand and as Alan shook it he spoke softly. "It's nice to meet you. I didn't know Jack and Beth were planning on renting their house, where did they go?"

A soft murmur interrupted the conversation diverting their attention to the young man on the couch. As Charlie rolled over to get more comfortable his right arm slipped over the edge of the couch, dangling in mid-air.

Alan whispered and turned to lead the man from the room. "My youngest is really exhausted, let's go in here so we won't disturb him."

Don watched as the man's eyes drifted over to the couch and came to rest on his brother; they seemed to linger on him as Alan led him out toward the kitchen.

He watched as they left the room and felt the hair prickling on the back of his neck; the agent couldn't put his finger on it but he was suddenly wary of the man. Crossing over to the couch he bent down and gently placed Charlie's arm at his side. Taking one last look at his sleeping brother he turned and followed the other two men out into the dining room.

Don pulled out a chair directly across from the man and sat down just as Alan was offering to make some coffee.

"That would be just grand, thanks." Angus said graciously

Don couldn't understand his sudden trepidation over the man, he seemed pleasant enough and certainly wasn't making any threatening moves….yet his gut was telling him to be careful.

"So….ah…Angus…what brings you to LA? " The agent asked innocently.

"I'm taking a course at Calsci, that's why I've leased the Patterson 's house, because it's only a few miles from the campus." he responded without hesitation.

"Really?" Don asked. "What course are you taking?" That was it, if the man said he was taking an Applied Mathematics course then he was going to run a full background check on him… immediately!

Alan chose that moment to bring in the coffee and sent his son out for more cups. Once they were settled down again and the man was sipping his coffee, Don prompted him for an answer to his question.

"What courses did you say that you were taking?"

Alan interrupted again, "Courses, are you taking classes at one of the universities?"

"Yes, as I was telling Don, I'm taking a course at Calsci."

"Calsci!" the elder Eppes exclaimed. "Why, that's where Charlie teaches."

The Scotsman looked confused. "Charlie?"

"My youngest son, the one sleeping in the other room."

Don was getting impatient, he wanted an answer to his question.

"The boy on the sofa? Why, he doesn't look old enough to be a professor."

Alan smiled proudly, "Charlie's a full tenured Professor. As a matter of fact, that's why he's so exhausted, it's finals week."

"So Angus," Don tried again. "Your taking a summer course?"

"Oh, yes," he responded as he took a sip of his coffee. "Six weeks of classes. I suppose your wondering why someone my age would be interested in going back to college?"

"No, not at all." Alan answered. "I'm taking a course and I'm older than you are."

The agent was really getting frustrated, every time he thought he was going to get an answer, his Dad would interrupt before the man could respond.

"What course are you taking?" Angus inquired.

"I'm auditing an introductory mechanical engineering course. Actually I'm studying for my finals but I've really enjoyed the class and I'm considering taking another one next fall." Alan added enthusiastically before taking a drink of his coffee.

The younger man spoke up quickly, determined to finally get an answer to his question.

"Angus, you never did answer my question. What course are you taking at Calsi?"

The man appeared truly embarrassed as he responded. "I'm very sorry, Don, I'm afraid I let myself get distracted. I'm taking a class on religion and philosophy. A Professor Trowbridge is presenting a summer class on the subject. She is one of the foremost authorities in this field and I am really excited about it."

Inwardly, Don let out a sigh of relief. Okay, so maybe he had over reacted a little bit, the guy appeared to be sincere. There was one thing though that didn't make any sense to him. The man acted as if he didn't know who Charlie was and he knew for a fact that Jack and Beth Patterson were always bragging about having his brother as a neighbor. He was just about to ask about this when the subject himself stumbled sleepily toward the room.

Charlie had slipped his shoes back on but had neglected to tie his shoe strings and the laces tapped against the floor as he approached them.

"Sorry, guys," he mumbled before a yawn escaped him. "I didn't mean to fall asleep on you." The young man rubbed at his eyes as he walked past the foyer he was unprepared for the onslaught that greeted him.

The Scotsman moved faster than Don thought he was capable of and jumped up from his chair to place himself directly in Charlie's path. With a hand outstretched toward the smaller man he loudly proclaimed himself an ardent fan.

Charlie was not fully awake and the sudden appearance of Fitzgerald caused him to react instinctively. He immediately backpedaled to get away from the strange apparition and with a yell he stumbled backwards stepping on one of his loose shoe laces. His arms hovered in the air momentarily before he lost his balance and landed flat on his back on top of the small round table . He lost consciousness when the back of his head hit the table and he slid to the floor with a loud thud as the table tipped over and came crashing down on top of him, shattering the green bowl and sending fragments of glass in all directions.

Don and Alan were around the table instantly shoving the apologetic Scotsman out of the way in their efforts to get to the young man. It took both of them to lift the table off of the unconscious mathematician.

"I think he was just knocked out Dad.' Don breathlessly tried to reassure his father as he put two fingers to his brother's neck checking for a pulse and at the same time hiding his own relief at the strong pulse he felt beneath his fingers.

"Let's put him on the couch." Alan said worriedly as he put an arm under his youngest to lift him off of the floor.

"Wait, he's starting to come around."

Charlie's eyes fluttered open and a soft moan escaped his lips as he brought a hand up to the back of his head.

"Ow…what hit me?" he whispered.

"You had a little accident, bro. Can you tell me how many fingers I'm holding up?"

Don winced when he mumbled "Too many for me to count."

"Let's get you up kiddo" his father said as he and Don helped pull him to his feet.

The young man closed his eyes as the room began to spin around him.

"I need ..to sit …down." he gasped as he swayed in their arms.

"Sure bro, just stay with us." the agent said . They pushed the distraught Scotsman out of the way and slowly made their way to the dining room table and eased him into one of the chairs.

Charlie sat with his elbows on the table, holding his head in his hands,. He kept his head bowed and eyes closed to try and keep the room from spinning around him.

Alan gently felt around the back of his son's head until he found a lump beginning to form and at a sharp intake of breath from his son, he pulled his hand quickly away.

"I'm going to get you some ice for that, don't go anywhere." he said as he patted his son's shoulder.

"Funny, Dad." Charlie muttered..

In the meantime, Angus had been nervously shifting from one foot to the other while mumbling apologetically and his last few words finally got Don's attention.

"I'm so sorry I didn't mean for him to get hurt… maybe I should just go." he said as he started to head for the door.

Don angrily flung out an arm and pointed at him. "Hey, you are not going anywhere! You have some explaining to do! Sit down!"

A hand pulled at his arm and he looked down at his brother.

"Don, not so loud, okay?" he whispered.

"Oh, sorry about that." he said in a much in lower tone.

The Scotsman hunched his shoulders and reluctantly sat down in a chair at the end of the table. He sat there with a bowed head and was nervously wringing his hands together. Occasionally, he would meekly look up at Don and Charlie only to quickly lower his eyes at Don's angry glare.

Alan returned with an ice pack, a bottled water and some aspirin. He gently placed the ice pack over the growing lump on the back of his son's head.

"Thanks Dad." Charlie said as he reached up to take the ice pack from his father and hold it to his head himself.

Don and Alan sat down on opposite sides of the younger man and watched with concern as he opened his eyes and tried to focus on his surroundings. He brought his free hand up and pinched the bridge of his nose before closing his eyes again.

As Alan patted him on the back he said. "Maybe we should take you to the emergency room. You hit the floor pretty hard son."

"No, it's okay, just give me a few more minutes."

Don opened the bottled water and shook a couple of aspirins out into the palm of his hand and set them on the table in front of his brother.

"Try and take these Charlie, they might help."

Charlie gave him a grateful look and obediently took the pills. Closing his eyes again he rubbed at his forehead. After a few minutes went by he opened his eyes again and as his vision began to clear they settled on the stranger sitting at the end of the table.

His father and brother followed his lead and soon the man had three pairs of eyes staring at him. One pair of puzzled brown eyes and two pair of angry brown eyes.

Charlie pointed a finger at the man.

"I've seen you before. You were outside my office today and I saw you in the cafeteria." he stated as a matter of fact.

The man's eyes looked like they were going to pop right out of his head. He was obviously very frightened but he shook his head sadly in confirmation.

Don gaped at the man, his anger resurfacing.

"You've been stalking him! That's what this is all about?"

"Everything that you told us was a lie. You were just trying to get close to my son!" Alan angrily retorted and then turned to his oldest.

"Donnie, can't you have him arrested or something?"

The little color that was left in the man's face quickly faded and he raised his hands to protest.

"But…but I didn't mean him any harm. I just wanted his autograph and I told the truth about everything else." he pleaded.

Don wasn't listening, he had pulled out his phone but as he started dialing his brother stopped him.

"I'm not going to press charges so you can put the phone down." Charlie said softly.

A look of surprise flitted across his brother's face. "Why the hell not?" he asked. "This man has been following you around and he hurt you."

"He didn't injure me Don, I did that myself, he just surprised me."

A glimmer of hope had crossed the Scotsman's face as he listened to the three men at the other end of the table.

Alan started to protest but his youngest son cut him off as he turned and glared at the stranger.

"He does owe us the truth, however, and I can still change my mind if he doesn't tell us exactly what he is up too."

The agent didn't agree with his brother but conceded to his request. He closed his phone and glared at the Scotsman. "Well, start explaining or I start dialing." Don grumbled menacingly.

The older man cleared his throat several times before he started to speak.

"Yes, well, ah …I am, I mean to say, ah, I was following you Professor but only because I'm a huge fan of yours and I really just wanted to get your autograph."

Silence and stares greeted him and he swallowed nervously before going on. "I really am taking a class at the university this summer and part of the reason is because you teach there and I was hoping to get a chance to meet you."

"Is that why you rented the Patterson's house too?" Alan asked angrily.

The Scotsman sighed deeply. "I had answered the ad before I knew that Dr. Eppes lived next door but…yes, I admit that was the selling point for me. They are quite proud you, you know, to be your neighbor I mean."

Charlie regarded the man curiously. He seemed genuinely sorry for what had happened, as a matter of fact, the young man was afraid he might start crying at any moment.

"Why didn't you approach me at school?"

"Your such a busy man, Dr. Eppes. Every time I thought about it, someone was always with you, and I didn't think you would appreciate being interrupted by someone who wanted your autograph."

Charlie ruefully shook his head and then immediately regretted it. He rubbed his forehead for a moment and then raised his head back up to face the man.

"Look, I don't think you meant any harm, it was just unfortunate that events worked out this way. I'll give you an autograph, but not tonight, okay?"

The man seemed to sit up straighter as his words began to register and Charlie quickly added . "It might be a good time for you to leave now."

The Scotsman stood up quickly, relieved that he could finally make his escape.

"Oh, thank you, thank you. It's so nice of you not to press any charges." he said, daring a quick glance at Don only to look away when he took notice of the angry scowl on the agent's face.

Alan was on his feet as soon as Fitzgerald took his first steps toward them. He planted himself in front of Charlie with his hands on his hips in a stance that told the man he should head directly for the front door.

The Scotsman took the hint and made a bee-line for the door with Alan right behind him. Angus turned at the door and once again apologized to the elder man and with one fleeting look back at the young man at the table, he opened the door and said his goodbye.

Always a man to have the last word, Alan called after the departing man.

"Next time, you might try a little honesty; you'll find it goes a long way around here!" and he slammed the door shut, making sure it was locked before going back to join his sons.

Alan's features were a mixture of anger and outrage as he returned to join his sons. "The nerve of some people." he was muttering as he joined them.

"And just what are you smiling at?" he asked his oldest, once again placing his hands on his hips.

Don was grinning from ear to ear when he asked. "Do you think he got the message Dad? Maybe you should have slammed that door a little bit harder."

"That's enough out of you young man, he was lucky I didn't hit him with the door on the way out." Alan replied emphatically.

Charlie tilted his head to the side just enough for his brother to see his own grin but not enough for Alan to see him. Suddenly a throbbing pain in the back of his head forced the grin from his face and he sighed audibly.

Alan quickly leaned over and put an arm around his shoulders.

"Charlie are you sure you don't want to go and get checked out?"

"Really, Dad, I just need to get some sleep. I'll be fine in the morning." he said as he stood up. The dizziness was gone now and all that was left was the headache. He looked around at the mess he had made when he had fallen on the table and sighing he turned toward the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" Alan asked. "Your bedroom is the other way."

Charlie stopped and rolled his eyes. "I know that Dad, I'm just going to get the broom and clean up this glass." He started to rub at the back of his neck when he caught the incredulous looks on both their faces.

"What?"

Don patted him on the shoulder. "Go to bed Charlie, you look like your going to fall over any minute now. I'll clean this up."

An expression of relief flitted across his brother's face. "Thanks, it really has been a long day. You know, I'm sorry I ever wrote that dam book." He said over his shoulder as he left the room.

Alan silently watched as his son started up the staircase with a concerned expression on his face and it wasn't until he heard Charlie click on his bedroom light that he turned around and started to clean up the mess. Don appeared with the broom and between the two of them they had the room cleaned up within a very short time

Don reached for his jacket intending to head home to his apartment but stopped as he thoughtfully studied the front door. "You know, I think I'll sleep in my old room tonight, I feel a little too tired to drive home." He glanced at his father. "Do you have a shirt that I can borrow tomorrow?"

"Of course, you know where they are and I'll make sure you have a good breakfast before you leave in the morning."

Alan went back to his class notes and Don grabbed another beer from the kitchen. He sat down in the lounge chair with the television remote but as he flipped through the channels his thoughts were really focused on the house across the street.