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.

This is a Stream of Consiousness chapter. If it makes no sense, I'm so sorry.

There was not much more that could make Ian's day any harder. That's what he'd thought when he'd gotten up that day to an exhausted looking Don and a team with worried looks on their faces and a complete green horn cowering behind the files as if it would keep her safe from them. Of course, he'd been proved wrong before. Don, finally able to get back at him, took one look at Reynolds and then saw Ian at the door and said she was Ian's problem for the day. He would have been fine with it if only Don hadn't said something about checking in with Alan and then seeing if the professors had gotten anywhere.

The trip to the old Craftsman house had been somewhat uneventful considering that Alan was pretty much knee deep in blueprints and schematics. Ian had been leaning against the doorjamb as Reynolds began to speak that language with him. When he found that Alan would need whatever the professors had come up with, he'd sighed and said they'd check. It wasn't like they had anything else they had to do after all right?

However, the disappointed and embarrassed looks on their faces only made him growl with irritation. Reynolds stared at the board and asked what exactly they were figuring. Ian slid into a chair and listened as closely as he could to them. Reynolds had an eye for math stuff, he'd give her that but it wasn't like Charlie's mind for it. She could grasp things but she probably couldn't make it work for her like Charlie could.

Then again…Charlie was insanely brilliant where as Reynolds was probably only slightly above average intelligence. Not many people could compete with Charlie when it came to math.

"Is it seriously that time?" he asked suddenly when his eyes managed to claw their way to a clock face. It was one in the afternoon and he hadn't eaten since last night. Reynolds looked about ready to eat the papers around her.

"Oh for the love of…" Millie growled as she peered up at the clock through her glasses. "We're becoming like Charlie."

"May I suggest we head out for a bite?" Larry asked gently. Reynolds looked like she wanted to call him a god.

"I'm game for food," Ian muttered easily before his stomach could growl.

"There is a good place nearby," Marshal managed to add, his eyes pointed towards Reynolds. Ian tried to ignore the slight blush on his face considering he didn't really find the plain woman very attention grabbing but then again, maybe she was Marshal's type.

"Let's see if we can pull Amita out of her office as well," Ian stated. "She needs to eat too right? Let's at least try to get her to stretch her legs."

He could have sworn Millie wanted to hug him as tightly as possible. Of course all he got were smiles and glee filled nods as they marched out of the room. He'd give them all the credit they deserved when Millie and Marshal basically tried to yank Amita's arms out of their sockets to get her out of the room. Reynolds however was the one who muttered the correct words.

"I wonder what Charles would think if he saw you now."

Amita flew into a rage and shot herself across the room to chew the young agent out. There was a lot of 'How dare you suggest that?' and 'You've never even met him!' from Amita while Reynolds simply watched her in a bored manner. As Amita was about to trail into the 'you have no idea how much I love(d) him' speech Ian could just sense was coming, Reynolds pulled out another one of her whoppers.

"I've met him before, he helped us on a case and even got us invites to the party where we made the sting," she stated. "I'm also interested in finding him for your information. Now…if you're done, we're hungry and you're feeding us."

Amita stared at her in amazement. Of course, Ian couldn't blame her. He was surprised as well considering he never would have thought that Reynolds had that much of a backbone in her. However, seeing it didn't necessarily make his day worse – hell, he was pleased with her.

"I'm still hungry," Ian muttered softly. "Who was it that said there was a good place around here?" He kicked away from the wall and sauntered away, Reynolds trailing after him quickly as if she suddenly understood what it was that she had just said. The professors followed, Amita in their number.

Ian watched as Larry and Marshal seemed to act as the shields to Reynolds as they left CalSci in relative companionship. Millie engaged Amita with riveting – Ian could only assume though since it was all math and it went over his head – conversation. He did however realize quickly that none of them mentioned Charlie again and the others seemed to shy away from mentioning the case. He couldn't say he was completely against it considering he wasn't sure he wanted to talk about it either. He was sure that Charlie was more than just a simple taboo subject that was to never be mentioned.

He'd seen what doing so did to the people around him; people shut down.

"This place is pretty good," he muttered as he cleaned his plate.

It was so damned difficult to find decent biscuits and gravy but this place had one that was pretty good with all things considered. He wasn't completely pleased with it – the ones he'd gotten up in Walden, Colorado were a shit ton better but it was a Midwest dish. It was supposed to be comfort food but it acted just as well as a solid source of food in one's stomach.

"I'm pleased to hear it," Millie chuckled. "How's your food Melissa?"

"Wonderful thank you," Reynolds smiled as she worked away at her plate of salad. Ian wasn't sure if it was just a simple diet awareness of hers – eat healthy, stay healthy – or if she were vegan or vegetarian. Then again…there was chicken in that salad; he'd seen it and he didn't see her shoving it aside since she'd asked for it to be there.

"Good to know," Millie smiled gleefully. Her eyes burned with something then and she turned to Marshal. "You locked the office up didn't you?"

"Yeah I did," Marshal said as he nodded. "There was no reason to leave it open since none of us would have been there and the plans are all in that office after all. Larry watched me do it himself actually."

"Yes indeed," Larry chimed his attention mainly on his – Ian was still wondering how that worked in the restaurant – white food. "He locked it."

"Good," Ian muttered. "Last thing we need is for our work to become common knowledge around the school. It's not exactly easy to say that it needs to be kept as confidential as possible since we do have consultants on it – no offense."

"None taken," Amita stated. She'd calmed down as the group had sent into eating and talking. Reynolds even apologized to her. It was funny watching Amita and Reynolds glare at each other every so often though. Reynolds may not have been nearly as smart but she was still a spitfire in her own way. Ian had a feeling that Amita just didn't like the point the girl had made.

As they walked back to CalSci, Ian checked in with Don to find nothing had gone forward – like he was surprised. He was about to update Don on what they had – even if it wasn't much – when he ran into Reynolds' back.

"What the hell-?" he looked up to find the professors at a dead halt as well. They were in front of Charlie's office – the one Marshal had locked up. The door was cracked open. "Don, I'll call you back." He snapped his phone shut and slipped past them all, gun in hand. "Reynolds snap out of it and help me clear the room."

She nodded frantically and slipped out her piece silently as she shifted past the professors. He nudged the door open and slipped in, his eyes flying over the undisturbed papers and files. The only things that looked touched were…the board and the blueprints.

"Clear," Reynolds called.

"Clear," he affirmed, stowing his gun in its holster. "That post-it wasn't there when we left."

"None of those equations were," Reynolds added as the professors popped their heads in cautiously. They reminded Ian of those scenes in movies when the characters were piled one over the other and looking around a corner. If only the situation wasn't a bit desperate.

"How long were we gone?" Ian asked quickly as he looked over the blueprints. Larry looked like he was about to panic as he walked into the room, fists at his mouth.

"An hour? Maybe an hour and a half?" he mumbled. "Is anything missing?"

"Just your handwriting professor," Ian muttered as he glared at the board. His gaze fell on the post-it and he could feel them widen. "I need to call Don."

"Why?" Millie asked. "Nothing's missing right?"

"It's what was left that's freaking me out," Ian muttered as he dialed Don. "Don? Bring a fingerprint kit to the university…nothing's missing it's just…trust me, you need to see this."

He hung up and continued to stare at the post-it. He knew the handwriting that was on the board; he'd seen it before. However, he knew that Don would really want to see the post-it. It was something he'd seen Charlie do once before when he'd found something but Don wasn't around to get it. He'd hand something over with a note that said one thing only:

For Donnie's eyes only.

Really seriously guys, the note at the very bottom (that will ask you to review) is not a joke. I like reading them! Just adding me to story alert doesn't tell me jack.

Please review. Thanks.