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.

So very sorry this took so long...

"Who's this?" Sheila asked gently as she pointed at a MISSING poster. She had heard rumors that there were tons of the damned things all over the place but what with her getting lost so often, she hadn't been paying attention to the walls unless she was looking for a room number. Now that she actually had a pretty goo grasp of the place, she'd begun to notice a few more things like bulletin boards and what not.

With her were Mille, Larry, and Penfield – all of whom had been surprised at how well and quickly she'd caught up in only two days. They were giving her a private tour of the school finally and she had already warned Charlie that she would be late getting home. She was planning on taking the bus home to avoid Carlos for a little longer. The three seemed to stiffen exponentially when she pointed at the poster again.

"That's Dr. Charles Edward Eppes," Penfield said softly.

"He's Charlie to his friends," Millie murmured as she shifted uncomfortably. Larry seemed to curl into a ball as he looked away from her. Sheila suddenly found herself thinking back to one of her other teachers, Amita Ramanujan, who seemed locked in herself because of something.

"I feel like I'm missing something here," Sheila murmured, a small smile on her face. The three professors looked at each other nervously.

"He's the professor that I'm subbing for," Penfield said finally. "He's…brilliant."

"His brother works for the FBI," Mille muttered. "He does consulting for them too."

"Oh," Sheila sighed. "I guess I get to look him up." She reached for the poster, her green eyes glazed over with recognition at the picture. There was no way someone looked that much like her Charlie unless they were him. Now, she was learning he was a freaking math professor? A brilliant one too? That made things make so much more sense.

"I guess so," Millie sighed, a soft smile gracing her features. Sheila knew that expression. Her mother had had it more than once after her father and brother were killed.

"Well," Larry declared in his own flourish. "That's the tour. Any questions you have can be given to any one of us if you wish for assistance."

"Thank you," she said as she bowed her head. She slipped the poster into her folders. "I should be heading home now. Thank you so much professors."

They nodded and waved at her as she left. Her feet carried her faster than she expected them to. She got home faster than she thought she would and her hands shook as she unlocked her front door. She slipped inside as her eyes caught a glimpse of a face she felt she knew but it wasn't clear. The deadbolt fell into place smoothly and she leaned her head against the door.

Turning around, she found papers all over the tables and floor of the small living room. There were more on the dinning table. The radio was blasting music she didn't recognize but didn't mind. How she hadn't heard it outside surprised her but she chalked it up to how muddled her mind was at that moment. In the middle of it all was Charlie, his hand at his scar and then writing as he tapped his foot quickly.

"Wow," she breathed. Charlie jumped and turned to finally look at her. "Holy crap Charlie, what happened in here?"

"I…" he shrugged. "I had a sudden epiphany. I felt like I had to get it onto paper or else it'd stay it in my head."

"Again I way wow," she murmured as her eyes rolled over the amount of paper. "Holy crap."

"Thanks," he chuckled softly. "Sorry about that."

"It's not me you need to worry about." She waved her hands back and forth quickly before herself. "Mom's used to this stuff with me too so I wouldn't worry too much about it but still…wow Charlie."

He smiled sweetly. "You look stressed out Sheila," he murmured. "It's not normal for you to look stressed out."

"Changing the subject are we? I'm impressed." She smiled at him and shook her head. "I'm fine. A ton of homework but you know how it is – sorta." They chuckled softly at the slight jab she'd just given him.

"I warned your mother CalSci looked like a tough school," he shrugged. "You're doing great though so I'm not too worried. If you need any help I'll be…burying myself in algorithms." He waved his arms out in a wide arc and his eyes danced with laughter and complete solace. She blinked back tears once she saw how comfortable he was in the mass of math.

She couldn't bring herself to tell him what she'd found. She didn't want to shatter that solace. She waved at him in understanding and slipped up the stairs to her room.

She sat before her computer for an hour after she finished her work – stymied how quickly she'd done it – and she rubbed her hands over her face. She sighed resolutely and stared once again at the search engine main screen. She watched her fingers type up the name that lay under the picture she felt staring at her from the pile of finished homework. She pressed ENTER and watched it sift through the amount of sites that were seen as relevant.

She went over the sites that truly did pertain to what she was looking for only to find that the guy figuring algorithms and equations downstairs was a prodigy. He was a professor at her university and he had been known for consulting for the FBI and possibly the NSA and other major departments of the government. She scrubbed her face over again and sighed. She didn't need this on her plate. Looking deeper, she found the mathematician's family; a father, a brother, a deceased mother, and a near marriage.

"Wow," she breathed. She growled a soft curse and slipped down the stairs to find her mother cooking in the kitchen happily.

"Oh! Sheila, have you finished your homework?" She gave a nod earning her a worried glance. "What's wrong darling?"

"I think I know who Charlie is."

Maria stared at her daughter wide eyed for a moment before placing her wooden spoons and measuring implements down. "That's wonderful news darling," she stated as she scrubbed her hands clean on her apron, moving towards Sheila with a soft smile on her face. "What's bothering you so much?"

There was a deafening pause as Sheila rubbed her arms like she was cold. "He's really famous Mama; Childhood genius with math type thing."

"Makes plenty of sense to me," Maria shrugged. "What's wrong with it?"

"His big brother's in the FBI…Charlie's been known to consult for him."

Maria's face paled substantially as the understanding sank in immediately. She glanced up the steps remembering just how thin the walls of her house were, her hands scrubbing themselves raw in her apron. Glancing back to her daughter, she breathed through her nose slowly, turning to her cooking once more.

"Dinner will be ready soon darling. Make sure Charlie's up." She waited for the steps to creak before she spoke again. "Don't tell him what you learned. I will speak to the authorities tomorrow alright?"

She didn't glance over her shoulder to see the nod Sheila gave before dragging herself up the creaking steps. She didn't need to; once she made a decision, it was final. There was no need to say anything else. She already had a plan unfolding before her. She'd take care of things.

Please review. Thanks.