I don't own Numb3rs. I miss the show greatly though. This is my pathetic attempt at a fanfic for the show. It's not exactly great but I had an inspiration. I'm still working through it too so reviews are a source of weather or not I should continue.

There won't be any pairing slash or otherwise in this. I know. I'm trying something different.

Don was kicking himself and he was kicking himself hard.

It had finally dawned on him how deep he had buried himself in self pity and was about to drown himself in it to boot. Ian's poking at him had made it even more obvious as he got closer and closer to blowing up at the sniper for comments that shouldn't have been bothering him. Ian had always been right about things like that. He always knew when someone had to snap out of things and get back on track with their lives. Don had caught people without Charlie's help before. He could do it again.

At least, he hoped he could.

Ian was sitting next to him in the truck as they waited for a sighting of Cornel at a bar he had been known to frequent. They both watched the door and listened to the chatter from everyone else. The amount of chatter told them all they needed to know; Frank Cornel was not exiting through side doors or the back door. Since Ian wasn't much of a talker, Don had been forced to stay silent or look like an idiot by talking to the others. He had a feeling it would have been fine with Ian but he wasn't chancing it.

"Nothing here," Liz sighed from her seat on a side door. Don closed his eyes as he bit back a growl of annoyance. He could be sifting thorough Charlie's case file right now.

Ian's hand flicked out of no where and hit Don on the ear; hard. Don muffled his shout of pain and glared at the sniper who didn't even look like he'd moved. Don managed to not growl at him but he couldn't stop himself from muttering a curse as he rubbed his ear as soothingly as he could manage.

"Don?" Colby asked concerned. "You guys alright?"

"I'm fine," Don hissed as his eyes tried to bore holes in Ian's clothes. He was met with a level look that demanded he keep silent about it. "Whacked my knee," he muttered as his eyes battled with Ian's. Ian smirked and spoke finally.

"I'm surprised you guys didn't hear it," he said in a sultry voice. "I think they heard it where ever Charlie is."

There was stunned silence on the other radio links and Don couldn't blame them. He was already wishing he hadn't asked for Ian to come in but it was too late for that. He was wishing he'd tried harder to put Ian with Liz or Nikki who would have actually have been able to get away with striking back. He knew Ian wouldn't hit a woman unless he absolutely had to and it was rare for that to happen. Ian's control was amazing after all.

Ian watched Don, his smirk widening as Don gripped the door handle and edge of the seat as he tried hard to not get violent. Ian was surprised at how quickly Don had picked up on what he was doing. What surprised him more was that Don hadn't nearly killed him. He wasn't being subtle anymore with his hits and prodding. He didn't feel like he could hold back anymore. Don was too prone to think about Charlie and Ian couldn't let him if they wanted to finish this case.

Ian wanted to start his own little investigation into Charlie's disappearance as soon as possible.

"Nothing here either," Nikki chimed to break the silence. She was covering one of the side doors with another agent. She was also the first to pick up on Ian's little pokes at Don. She was the one who warned the others what he was doing and even that didn't stop him from prodding at them either. Given, Ian had been nicer to them than he was being to Don. They weren't as deep in self pity was Don was so there was less poking Ian had to do.

"Nothing," Colby murmured. Don could almost hear him and David shifting uncomfortably. Ian bit back a smirk at their discomfort. He let his eye fall back to the front door and watched carefully for Cornel. He wasn't too surprised that the guy wasn't coming out or entering. Just because the guy frequented this place didn't mean that he would actually show up here.

"Another hour and then I'm going to bed," Ian muttered darkly. He was a good tracker yes but this whole stakeout thing drove him nuts. He was patient yes but he preferred moving about while he waited unless he was looking through his rifle's scope.

"Not interested enough Edgerton?" Don hissed. Ian shot him another level look and shook his head seriously. He wasn't interested at the moment. Even Charlie's disappearance was hitting Ian hard. He was just better at not showing it than Don was.

However, he was beginning to wonder if he was as good at hiding his feelings as he thought he was. Something told him the way he didn't look at things that reminded him of Charlie was too obvious even for this group of distraught agents.

"Bastard," he heard Don growled low in his chest.

"And I'm proud of it," Ian replied smoothly. "Hold on, I think we've got him."

Don sat up in his seat and pulled up a small scope. He nodded his own personal affirmative. It was Cornel in all of his macho glory. Strongly built muscles wrapped over his arms and legs and Don wouldn't want to feel the force behind one of his punches. His face was square and set in hard annoyance. Yet the guy walked confidently as if he was positive no one would catch him; ever. He moved to the bar easily and stood outside the front door to smoke.

"Calm enough he thinks a smoke won't hurt him too badly," Ian muttered. He rubbed his hands together and tensed in anticipation. "Let's get him."

"Wait a second," Don hissed, his hand catching Ian's shoulder. "Let's see what he does first."

"I thought you wanted to get this guy?" Ian growled. He could hear the others roll their eyes as they listened.

"I do," Don explained. "I want to know what he plans to do from here."

"If he runs off again, I'm not helping you catch him again." Don huffed at Ian's annoyed tone. The sniper had a point. They should have been moving in but Cornel's sense of calm was going a bit too far. He was far too calm and Don didn't like it.

"I want to know who his contact is," he explained softly. "Maybe they helped engineer his escape?" Ian shrugged his hand off and growled his agreement. He wanted to know who helped Cornel out too but he was more interested in ending this case. There were case files he could get into and he was fairly sure that his supervisors wouldn't mind if he wanted in on a missing person's case; even if the case was two months old.

Cornel sat and smoked for a few minutes until a low riding Cadillac pulled up, parking nearby. Two Latino boys hopped out followed by two white guys. The white guys sauntered into the bar, shaking hands with Cornel as they went. Ian was already snapping pictures. The two Latinos bummed cigarettes from Cornel and joined him for a smoke. One finished quickly and sauntered after his companions. The other stayed to talk.

Don had a microphone up in seconds and had the recorder turned on just as quickly.

"So," Cornel rumbled. "What do you need Carlos?"

"Not much," the kid Carlos muttered. "My girl is still in denial."

"I feel you man," Cornel sighed. "My sincere apologies man. I told you to just fuck her and get it over with man." He sucked on the cigarette and blew out a cloud of nicotine. "You want her, you gotta pin her down."

"She's Valdez's girl Frank. His son Michel saved your ass once remember?" Carlos growled in response. Cornel gave him a look.

"You mean Valdez Rodriguez?" Carlos nodded. "Man, I take it back. Even I know not to try for Sheila. She has no interest in guys from that world. You know that. She's trying to get out man! Let her get out! She doesn't fit in our lives."

"She's Valdez's kid. She's royalty in the neighborhood," Carlos snarled. "She should stay there."

Cornel shook his head. "Let her go man. Where's she going to school now? Princeton? Harvard? MIT? Come on, where?"

"CalSci," Carlos snarled his voice so damned bitter it made Ian squirm. "First day and they give her homework. Fuckers."

"I hear that's a hard school to get into," Cornel said calmly. "Come on man, you called me here. What do you want from me now?"

"I want you to get rid of someone."

"Who?"

"Maria and Sheila brought in a stranger into their house. I don't trust him. Claims to not have a memory but I know his face. He's been in the news before," Carlos growled as he waved his hand about, the lit butt glowing in the dark. "He's not safe. I want him out of her life."

"Damn," Cornel murmured. "Who is he?"

"You'll know him when you see him. His face is all over the place."

Cornel shrugged. "I'll see what I can do. Got any information for me?"

"He stays at the house all the time. Maria won't let him leave. Sheila seems to like him as if her were Michel's replacement." Carlos scoffed then and took a drag. "He'll most likely be alone all the time. I'll be happy to call you when I can have Maria distracted."

"Sounds good man. I'm happy to help you out man." Cornel finished his cigarette and stomped it out. "Call me when you get the chance. We'll see what I can do. I have to find an untraceable gun but I'll let you know when I'm ready."

"Good. See you later man," Carlos said as Cornel moved past him.

"Should we move?" Nikki asked. Don glanced at Ian to find him shaking his head.

"No. We need to find his target," Ian murmured. Don nodded.

"Stay put guys. We have to get this tape to the technicians and find who their talking about."

"You're finally awake Eppes," Ian sighed sounding slightly relieved.

"Shut up Edgerton."

Ian smirked.

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