A/N: SORRY! Sorry, sorry, sorry! I know it's been forever, and I promised an update soon. But with classes starting back and everything else I have going on, I've barely had time to sleep let alone write. I'm trying to change that though! Anyway, here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
Chapter 3 - Reunions
She couldn't believe it, after eight years the first time she was going to to be seeing her other big brother was listening to one of his lectures. She knew Don was right, that she needed to talk to him sooner rather than later, but CJ still wanted to postpone the inevitable confrontation with her genius older brother, who could actually intimidate her a little if he wanted to, and so she held out hope that maybe he wouldn't see her in the huge lecture hall, though it wasn't that crowded so luck was not in her favor. CJ sent a silent prayer to whoever was listening that she could at least prolong confronting Charlie, at least until Don could be there too, and yes she felt extremely stupid for wanting her big brother to protect her from their brother's wrath.
"Hey, over here!" Lisa called, having found a couple seats, unfortunately for CJ, right in the middle and close to the stage. CJ swallowed and tried to put on fake enthusiasm for her newfound friend as she sat down by her. "You okay?" The concern was evident in Lisa's eyes, if not her voice as well.
CJ nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." Lisa looked a little skeptical. "I was just trying to remember some of the accomplishments I've heard he's had," CJ lied, but was effective in distracting the girl sitting next to her, who seemed enamored with, unknown to her, CJ's older genius brother.
"Yeah, I know, it's incredible isn't it? I heard he graduated high school at like fourteen or something."
"Thirteen," CJ corrected automatically, unable to stop herself, and immediately regretting it. She shrugged at her friend's questioning look, and tried to plaster on an unsuspicious smile. "What? I read it in an article in this one magazine that did a mini-biography on him." It was partially true at least, CJ had read it an article on her brother, but knew it more because it was so weird to be losing both of her brothers to college at the same time, despite their five year age difference.
Lisa seemed to accept her answer and continued, "Yeah, that's right. He published when he was fourteen. It was really interesting too!" As her friend continued to gush about her brother, CJ nodded and smiled at all the right times, but was inwardly trying to swallow the fear that was starting to cause butterflies in her stomach. "Ooh look!"
CJ looked up at Lisa's command and saw for the first time since she was a teenager the same mop of dark curly hair and the same, yet slightly older and wiser looking, face of one of the most influential people, even if unintentionally, to shape her life. CJ knew that, and she and Don never blamed him for one second, if Charlie had been normal their lives would have been a lot different. She could see the difference in this Charlie from the Charlie she'd known. She could see a light there in his eyes, one that she knew had come from working so closely with his older brother, and finally getting a love life. Secretly, she wished that she would've been there to see all the changes her brother, both her brothers, had gone through, but knew there was no point in wasting time thinking about what could've been.
Charlie started his lecture, the subject of which CJ had already forgotten, she was too focused on trying to figure out all the changes he'd gone through and how she was going to approach him after this was over. CJ noticed there was a big difference in him, and finally realized what it was...confidence. Charlie had never been the most confident person, she remembered he would always get really nervous talking in front of crowds, but standing there, rambling on excitedly about the topic, CJ noticed that Charlie was totally casual, looking as if he didn't have a care in the world other than trying to get the students to understand what he was saying. She smiled. Despite herself and her internal warnings, CJ smiled at how happy her big brother seemed, and she couldn't help but be happy for him too. She was glad things had turned out so well for him, and that he and Don were apparently getting along better than they ever had.
But her internal warnings seemed to have had cause to warn her because about five seconds after she'd smiled, CJ, previously lost in thought about how both of her brothers had changed yet not changed at all, felt someone staring at her, and with a sickening stab of guilt realized it was Charlie who was staring at her. He'd stopped talking, apparently having noticed his long-lost sister in the small crowd, and held her gaze for a few seconds, which felt more like hours to both siblings, before turning back to his lecture, trying to pretend nothing had happened. Charlie seemed flustered though, and it took several minutes for him to get back his enthusiasm, though nowhere near the level it had been, for his topic. CJ closed her eyes and took a deep breath, knowing what the look in Charlie's eyes had meant...he couldn't believe she'd had the nerve to show up, not that she'd done it knowingly but he didn't know that, and that he was still very much very angry with her.
This day just got a hell of a lot longer, CJ mentally sighed, opening her eyes and pretending to try and listen to what her brother was saying. Though she knew that both her and Charlie's thoughts weren't related to the lecture, but to the past, and what would happen after the lecture was over.
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As the students were leaving the lecture hall, CJ and Lisa among them, CJ stopped and turned to Lisa.
"Hey, I think I dropped something back there, I'll be back," she said, turning to head back.
"I'll go with you," Lisa offered nonchalantly.
"No," CJ contradicted, a little too quickly. Lisa looked at her oddly. "Uh...it's just if it's under the seats or something it might take me a little bit, and I don't wanna hold you up," she covered easily, putting years of practice covering for herself and her brothers to good use.
"That's OK, I can help," Lisa shrugged.
"No, that's OK, you go on, I'll catch up later," CJ insisted.
Lisa gave her a curious look. "Well...if you're sure..." she said slowly.
CJ gave her a friendly smile and nodded. "I'm sure. I'll catch up later."
Lisa shrugged. "OK, whatever."
CJ sighed in relief after Lisa was gone, but then took a deep breath to steel herself and headed back down towards the stage, and her brother.
Charlie was putting all of his notes back into his bag when he heard footsteps and looked up to see CJ standing there cautiously. He had hoped she would've just left, or preferably stayed away in the first place. Years of ignoring her existence had made thinking he didn't have a sister anymore easy, but now here she was standing in front of him, with an apologetic look on her face even. He watched her for a second, noticing her apprehension, even if he wasn't good with understanding human behavior he'd always been able read his sister's emotions, Don told him it was a big brother thing, even if he didn't understand them most of the time, but then he turned back to putting his stuff away.
Seeing Charlie was going to try to ignore her, CJ sighed dejectedly, "So, you're not even gonna talk to me?"
Charlie rolled his eyes, but didn't look up. "What is there to talk about CJ?" he asked shortly.
CJ raised an eyebrow at his tone, but had known he was going to be like this so it wasn't a total surprise. "Well, at least you remember my name," she tried to joke sarcastically.
Charlie gave her an exasperated look. "What do you want CJ? You come back just to make jokes or something?" he snapped. "Why are you even here? Didn't you leave just to get away from us? You've been doing a pretty good job of it. Even if you had the overwhelming urge to move back to LA, why try to talk to us? Huh? LA's a big city, you could still ignore us if you wanted to. Hey, I know, why don't you do that. You just go about your life, we'll go about ours, and me and you'll just pretend we didn't see each other today. Sound good? We can all go back to doing what we've been doing for the past eight years, and get on with our lives...ignoring each other's existence." And with that he stalked out of the lecture hall, ignoring the look of hurt on CJ's face as he passed.
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"So..." Megan started while she and Don were taking a break outside, waiting on David and Colby to get back with dinner. Don rolled his eyes discreetly and looked over at her, knowing what she wanted to talk about. "You have a sister..."
"Yeah," Don said slowly. He knew she wanted him to just spill, and she knew he was just trying to stall. Megan rolled her eyes and gave him a pointed look. He took a deep breath, leaning against the railing. "Fine. What did you want to know?" he sighed defeatedly.
Megan pursed her lips in contemplation. "Why are you trying to avoid this conversation?" she shot back, though gently, as she leaned on the railing next to him.
He chuckled dryly. "I guess I'm just used to it. I've been avoiding this conversation with people for eight years," he admitted.
She looked at him thoughtfully. "What happened?" she questioned softly.
Don looked down at the ground before looking out into the distance, not meeting her gaze, before telling her, "It's a long story."
"Well, we've got time," Megan pointed out.
He smirked, but turned solemn again. "After Charlie, our parents never planned on having another kid, which I'm sure you can figure out why." Megan nodded. "Then CJ came along. She was an...'oops baby', I guess you could call it, and she knew it too. Not to say Mom and Dad didn't do the best they could, because they did," he added quickly. "But...they had their hands full with Charlie, so it wasn't easy with another kid. I helped out whenever I could, but as she got older -"
"She took a leaf out of her big brother's book and started taking care of herself," Megan finished. Don chuckled, but nodded.
"Yeah, pretty much," he agreed.
"So, are you two close?"
Don nodded. "Yeah. We just always...got each other, I guess. Most of the time she'd tag along with me, and my friends, if Mom and Dad would let her." He chuckled at a memory. "She even got my baseball coach in high school to let her help her out during practice after school, sometimes games if Mom and Dad weren't there."
"Would they not have wanted her too?" she asked curiously.
"Would you want your five year old daughter hanging out with a high school baseball team?" he countered.
Megan chuckled. "Fair enough. So why did the coach let her?"
Don smirked. "Well, one day I was at practice, and I guess she missed the bus home or something -"
"Hey Don! Isn't that your sister?" Eric, one of Don's teammates called from across the field.
Don stopped what he was doing and looked over in the direction of the school building and saw CJ standing at the fence watching the practice. He sighed frustratedly, wondering what she was doing here, and jogged over to her.
"What are you doing here?" he asked bluntly.
CJ grinned. "Well, I missed the bus so I figured I could catch a ride with you."
Don raised his eyebrows. "How did you get here?" he questioned cautiously. She just continued grinning. "You walked?" he blurted incredulously.
"It's not like it was that far," she shrugged nonchalantly.
"It's two miles CJ!"
"So?"
He sighed frustratedly. "CJ, you can't walk that far by yourself!"
"Well, I'm here now!" she retorted, raising her voice slightly to match his tone.
Don took a calming breath. "Fine, but stay in the dugout," he compromised. "I'll tell Mom you stayed after school for something and I got out of practice early enough to pick you up." CJ smiled, and Don rolled his eyes. "Come on." Don led her over to the dugout and told her firmly, "Now, stay here." He noticed CJ wasn't paying too much attention to him, but rather watching the practice. "CJ!" He made her look him in the eyes. "I'm serious, stay here, OK?"
CJ nodded. "OK."
Don raised his eyebrows skeptically, but decided not to push it, and went back to practice.
"What was that about?" Tim, the teammate Don had been pitching to, asked curiously.
Don rolled his eyes. "Little sisters," he sighed. Tim chuckled and nodded sympathetically, he had three little sisters of his own.
The practice continued on as normal, though Don would occasionally glance over at the dugout to make sure CJ was staying put, and she was, though she was watching the practice in a way that reminded Don of the way Charlie looked at math problems.
When Tim hit a foul ball across the field over near the dugout he sighed and started to go get it, but Don stopped him.
"What?" Tim questioned, confused.
Don smirked at him, but then looked over at CJ. "HEY CJ!" he called to her. She looked over at him, then to the ball he motioned to and smiled. When she came out of the dugout and picked it up, Don patted the inside of his glove. "Right here," he told her. She nodded and threw the ball to him, hitting the spot inside his glove. Don and CJ smiled at each other.
Tim and the rest of the team, who'd noticed Don holler at CJ, were staring at CJ and then at Don, who didn't act like there was anything strange about a five year old throwing the ball across the field like they would usually do with each other.
The coach apparently noticed too, though, because he yelled, "Eppes!" and started making his way over to Don.
"Yeah Coach?"
"What the hell was that?" the coach asked, gesturing towards CJ.
Don shrugged. "What's the problem? I figured instead of running over there and back she could just throw it over and save us the hassle. We do it all the time," he added, slightly defensive.
The coach sighed and dropped his angry facade, glancing at CJ, who was watching them with interest, then back at Don. "You teach her that?"
Don nodded slightly. "She likes baseball."
The coach smirked. "I could use an assistant, think she'd be interested?"
Don grinned. "You'd have to ask her."
The coach nodded. "Hey kid!" he called over to CJ, who looked confused now. She looked at Don who motioned for her to come over, and she walked over.
"My name's not 'kid'," she told the coach matter-of-factly when she reached him and her brother.
Half the team heard her, and started laughing, even Don wasn't able to hide his smirk. The coach looked slightly annoyed, and slightly surprised, considering he expected that kind of attitude from his players, not a five year old girl.
"Then what is your name?" he inquired, faking politeness, and CJ knew it.
But she smiled and said, "CJ, CJ Eppes."
"Well, CJ, you wanna be my assistant, help me keep this bunch in line?" the coach asked her bluntly.
CJ looked at Don, silently asking if it was OK, and when Don nodded that it was, she looked back at the coach, and with a huge smile said, "Absolutely!"
The coach chuckled, while Don just rolled his eyes and shook his head, and the rest of the team raised their eyebrows.
"All right, back to practice everyone!" the coach yelled, and the team did exactly that. Then he looked at CJ. "OK, CJ, let's see what they got."
CJ followed him, but threw her brother a smile over her shoulder.
"So, after that, she'd come by practice a lot," he finished. "We made up this story about some after school thing she was in so our parents wouldn't get suspicious."
"Did they ever find out?" Megan asked.
"Yeah," Don nodded. "The coach knew what we were doing so he never said anything, but one day Mom got off work early and decided to have a 'girls afternoon out' or something and went to pick CJ up, but when she wasn't there and the teacher told her CJ wasn't in an after school thing, Mom realized she was with me."
Megan smiled sympathetically. "How did that turn out?"
Don shrugged. "Well, I was grounded for a couple weeks for lying about it and encouraging CJ to lie to them, and Mom yelled at us both for about an hour, but surprisingly she let CJ keep doing it."
"Really?"
"Yeah. She said she knew that CJ shared my love of baseball and she wasn't going to stop her daughter from doing something she loved."
Megan smiled, wishing she could've met this woman. "So, what did Alan think about it?" Don shifted uncomfortably. "Your Mom never told him," she guessed.
He nodded. "Dad's always been protective of CJ, more so than me, but in a different way."
"What do you mean?"
Don sighed, not sure how to word it. "CJ's always had her own mind, followed her own plan..." He trailed off, thinking about how true that was, but when he noticed Megan watching him curiously he continued. "Dad just always thought that CJ would be the 'normal one', I guess. I mean, you know he was an activist right?" Megan nodded.
"And then you became an FBI Agent?"
Don nodded. "Yeah, it caused some problems for a while too. But with me doing that, and then Charlie and his math...Dad was just hoping that CJ would be the one who went to college, got a job, settled down, got married, had kids, you know, the whole thing."
Megan didn't fail to notice the underlying message in Don's voice. "So, what did happen?" she questioned gently.
Don looked down and sighed. "Instead, she ran away at sixteen without any warning."
Megan didn't push for anymore, she was finally starting to understand, and she could tell this was a sore subject with the Eppes.
The two agents just stood there, settling into silence as they waited for David and Colby to get back.
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"Hey...You awake?" Don heard CJ whisper, and opened his eyes to see her sitting on the end of his bed cautiously.
He rubbed his eyes and slowly sat up, groggily asking, "What time is it?"
"Three," she answered quietly.
"You just get off?" CJ nodded, but never met his gaze. Don watched her for a minute, noticing her chewing on her lip and fiddling with her ring, two of her nervous habits. "What happened?" he questioned softly, still trying to wake himself up but knowing something was upsetting her. Years of experience had told him that CJ enjoyed her sleep as much as anyone else, and would never wake anyone up in the middle of the night unless something was wrong, ironically though he was always the one she came to, not their parents, something Charlie had done when he was little too, though Charlie would go to their Mom more as they got older.
CJ looked down. "I saw Charlie," she admitted faintly.
Don took a deep breath. "How bad was it?" He knew Charlie could have a temper, and that CJ seemed to almost always bring it out, though mostly unintentionally.
CJ swallowed. She considered not telling him, but Don seemed to know that and nudged her to tell him. "He told me we should keep ignoring each other," she informed him, barely audible.
Don sighed, but then reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her into a tight hug. "Don't you even think about it," he warned firmly. He noticed CJ hesitate in answering and pulled back, holding on to her shoulders, and making her look him in the eyes. "Promise me CJ. Promise me you won't let Charlie get to you. Yes, this isn't going to be easy, it's gonna be hard, but you made the right choice. Okay? Charlie's just still mad, you know that, he's trying to avoid this more than you are." CJ turned away for a second, but Don turned her back to look at him. "Come on CJ, promise me you're not gonna go back on your decision to come back, promise me you're still going to talk to Dad and Charlie."
CJ looked back at her brother warily, but knew he would force her to confront the past if he had to. "OK. I promise," she murmured.
Don gave her a small reassuring smile. "Don't worry about Charlie, or Dad. I'll be there too, OK?" CJ grinned slightly. "Come on," he said, nudging her arm. "You know I got your back," he promised.
CJ smiled and nodded, hugging him. "Thanks Donnie," she told him sincerely. "For everything."
Don smiled too as he hugged her back. "I'm your big brother, it's my job."
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"Don?...Don!"
"What?" He looked over at his team. When he saw that they were all staring at him, he realized he hadn't been paying any attention. "Sorry."
"You okay man?" Colby questioned.
Don nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just get back to this."
The team looked at each other, but pushed their curiosity aside and went back to what they were doing.
Don sighed, shaking his head at himself. He was thankful they didn't have a new case right now, and were just going over one that was about to go to court, because he just couldn't stay focused. His mind kept wandering back to CJ.
When he was getting ready for work this morning she wasn't there, and her duffle bag was gone too. Don couldn't help but wonder if she'd listened to Charlie. Though she had promised she wouldn't go back on her decision, and CJ had never broken a promise before. But he also knew that Charlie and CJ just always got to each other somehow, even if it was unintentional, they always pushed each other's buttons.
Don tried to concentrate on the file he was looking at. The trial started next week, and he and his team needed to refresh themselves on the finer details of the case since they would probably have to testify.
An hour later, they were all ready for a break.
"Man, I hate going over all of this stuff," Colby complained.
"Me too," David agreed. "But we've still gotta do it."
Megan and Don smirked at each other, they both agreed with David and Colby.
"Hey Don."
Don looked over at Colby, who nodded towards the door. When he followed the younger man's gaze, he noticed CJ coming over and waved her in.
"Hey," she greeted cheerfully, smiling brightly and seemingly trying to stop herself from jumping up and down with excitement. Don noticed the extreme difference in her mood from last night.
"What's up with you?" he asked bluntly, slightly amused.
CJ grinned. "Come with me," she told him impatiently, gesturing for him to follow her.
Don furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, and slight suspicion. "Why?"
She rolled her eyes. "Well, I guess you won't find out unless you come with me," she drawled.
"CJ, we're busy, I can't just up and leave," he protested.
CJ looked around at them, not failing to notice the rest of the team's amusement at her and Don's little banter, and then back at her brother.
"You don't look busy," she commented pointedly. Don rolled his eyes, but before he could argue CJ turned to the rest of the team, looking at Megan. "Megan, can my brother come out and play?" she asked her politely, but still sounding like a little kid who'd had too much sugar.
David and Colby coughed to cover up their chuckles, and Megan was smirking, trying to bite back a laugh as she nodded.
"Sure, we were getting ready to take a break anyway," Megan answered.
"Thanks," CJ replied, sending a 'Ha!' look to Don, who rolled his eyes. "Now come on," she told him impatiently, grabbing his shirt to pull him towards the exit.
Don sighed exasperatedly, but didn't fight her. "Thanks a lot Megan," he added sarcastically to her as he followed his sister.
Megan smirked. "Anytime," she called back.
When Don and CJ were out of earshot, Megan looked at David and Colby and they all burst out laughing.
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"OK...here we are," Cj said, finally coming to a stop and removing her hands from his eyes. Don looked around. They were in a small apartment, there wasn't much furniture and there were a few boxes laying around. "Welcome to my apartment!" she announced brightly.
He looked over at CJ. "So this is where you've been this morning?"
She nodded. "Yeah. The landlord called last night and told me it was ready to move into, and I wanted to surprise you."
He chuckled. "Well, you succeeded."
CJ grinned. "So..." she prompted. "What do you think?"
Don inhaled as he took a closer look around. "Well, you could definitely do worse," he remarked, thinking back to when he'd visited her three years ago and she'd been living in a very rundown small apartment with four other people and sleeping on a mattress on the floor.
She shrugged. "Yeah, well, it's all I could afford right now, but I like it. And it's mine." Don nodded. "So...?"
He grinned. "It's good sis." Don motioned her over, and CJ walked over to him, and he pulled her into a hug. "You did good kiddo. You got a job, an apartment, and you're going back school. I'm proud of you."
CJ smiled. "Thanks Donnie." They stood there for a couple minutes until CJ took a deep breath and resignedly said, "So...since I've moved in here now...I guess it's time I talk to Dad and Charlie..."
He smiled. "Dinner starts at six." CJ nodded. "So, do I get a tour before I have to get back to work?" Don questioned as he released her from the hug.
CJ nodded. "Come on."
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"Charlie!"
Charlie's head snapped up at Amita's tone. "What?" He was confused.
"Charles have you been listening to anything we've said?" Larry questioned.
Charlie sighed. "Sorry guys, I just can't seem to focus."
Larry and Amita glanced at each other, silently trying to decide who was going to bring it up. In the end Amita decided to try.
"You haven't exactly been yourself since you came back from your lecture at USC yesterday," she commented cautiously.
Larry noticed Charlie tense at the mention of his lecture and asked, "Did something happen that you might wish to talk about?"
"You can tell us Charlie," Amita assured him.
Charlie knew they were only trying to help. Unfortunately, they wouldn't understand his dilemma. Larry had met CJ a few times, but Charlie had never really talked much about her, or at all after she ran away, so he wouldn't understand why Charlie was upset. And Charlie had never even told Amita he had a sister. No, there was only one person Charlie could talk to this about, and that was someone who already knew CJ was back.
"I'll be back later," he said abruptly, starting to leave.
"Where are you going?" Amita questioned.
"To talk to Don."
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"Where's Don?" Charlie asked impatiently, seeing the rest of the team but not his brother.
"He's in the break room," Megan told him calmly, watching the mathematician carefully.
Charlie nodded shortly and took off towards the break room.
"What's up with him?" Colby asked bluntly, voicing the question on all of their minds.
When Charlie reached the break room, Don was just coming out. Charlie noted that Don looked slightly surprised to see him.
"Were you going to tell me?" Charlie snapped.
Don sighed, glancing around and noticing that Charlie's anger had gotten a few people's attention. "Let's talk in here," he said as he grabbed Charlie's arm and led him to one of the empty conference rooms.
As soon as Don shut the door Charlie asked angrily, "How long have you known she was back?"
Don took a deep breath, trying to remain calm since Charlie definitely wasn't. "Since she got here," he answered honestly. "She showed up at my apartment a few nights ago, asking to crash on my couch until her apartment was ready for her to move into."
"And you let her?" Charlie scoffed.
Don rolled his eyes. "Come on Charlie, she's still our sister."
"She has a funny way of showing it," he muttered bitterly.
"Charlie, she was sixteen, it was eight years ago. She came back. Why can't you just be happy about that and try to work things out with her? Huh? No, instead you tell her to stay away and keep ignoring us."
Charlie met Don's gaze. "She told you about that?" he asked quietly, but incredulously.
Don shrugged. "Not willingly. And I had to convince her not to listen to you!"
He glared at Don. "Why do you always side with her? She always goes to you, and you always side with her."
He couldn't help himself, Don chuckled at that. "You think I always side with her? Charlie, I've given her more lectures than Mom and Dad did!" Charlie gave him a skeptical look but decided not to comment. "And you wanna know why she always comes to me?" Charlie looked at his brother, and Don could see the honest curiosity in his eyes. "I was always her second choice. She comes to me because she can't go to you," he told him bluntly.
"Oh please," Charlie sighed exasperatedly. "She never even tries to come to me," he argued.
"Not anymore," Don partially agreed. "Because you ignored her so much when we were kids, she just stopped trying."
"When did she ever try to hang out with me instead of you? Never!"
"Oh yeah? What about her first day of kindergarden?" Charlie furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Remember, she talked Mom and Dad into letting her ride the bus home?"
"Yeah, so? She sat with you and your friends," Charlie pointed out.
"Yeah, after she tried to sit with you."
CJ stepped on the already crowded school bus, and immediately started looking for her brothers. Don was sitting in the back with his friends, but still gave her a smile when he saw her, which she returned. Charlie was sitting in the seat behind the driver talking animatedly about speeds and distances, and how the driver could improve the route and get kids home quicker.
She walked over to where Charlie was sitting. "Hey Charlie!" she greeted cheerfully. He gave her a slight nod and continued on with his rant, but otherwise gave no indication he'd heard her.
Knowing that there was no way she would be able to talk to Charlie when he was rambling on about numbers, she made her way to the back of the bus to where Don and his friends were sitting.
"Hey kiddo! How was your first day?" Don asked as he pulled her into the seat next to him.
CJ shrugged. "Not bad I guess. I still wish I could go to school with you and Charlie though," she mumbled.
Don smirked. "You say that now."
"Yeah, you wouldn't be saying that if you saw the crap load of homework Mrs. Jenkins gave us," Sean, one of Don's best friends who'd been around CJ quite a bit, told her.
Of course, Sean's comment got the group of teenage boys off on a rant about the teachers and classes, but that didn't stop CJ from joining in the conversation when they started talking about sports.
When they finally reached their bus stop, Don and CJ got off and found Charlie waiting for them, and the three started walking towards the craftsman.
"Hey, where did you sit?" Charlie asked CJ.
She gave him a sarcastic 'Really?' face, but when he didn't seem to notice that just said, "I sat with Donnie."
"Oh." Don noticed Charlie seemed slightly disappointed, but knew CJ hadn't caught that. "Well, you can sit with me next time if you want," Charlie told her.
CJ's face lit up. "Really?"
Charlie nodded. "Sure."
"But guess what Charlie...you did the same thing the next day too, and the day after that, and so on."
Charlie looked away from his brother. "I don't remember that," he said defensively.
Don gave a slight nod of agreement. "No, you probably don't. But CJ does. She remembers that, and all the other times you ignored her."
Charlie glared at Don. "I didn't ignore her," he denied firmly.
Don quirked an eyebrow. "No? Then you remember her following you around all the time when she was little?"
Charlie looked confused. "She didn't follow me around."
"Yeah, Charlie, she did. Right after she learned to walk she started following you around anytime she was around you. Ask Dad if you don't believe me."
"What does this have to with anything?" Charlie snapped, shaking his head, not wanting to admit Don was right.
Don sighed. "The only reason she didn't show up on your doorstep instead of mine is because she thinks you hate her."
Charlie didn't say anything. He was still mad at CJ, and a few reasons of the reasons he hadn't even told anyone about. The last time he'd seen her before she ran away was when they were arguing. It made sense that she would think he hated her. To be honest with himself, he wasn't sure if he did or not.
Don wanted to yell and have this out with Charlie right now, but knew there was at least several people watching them through the glass and that this wasn't the time or the place.
Instead he sighed and said, "Look, just talk to her about it at dinner."
"What?" Charlie's head snapped up to look at Don.
"She's coming over for dinner tonight," Don informed his brother.
Charlie scowled at his brother. "And you're just telling me now?"
Don shrugged. "I wasn't gonna tell you in the first place, I was gonna let it be a surprise, but since you're here now, yeah, I'm telling you now."
"So you haven't told Dad either?"
Don shook his head. "No. And I have a suggestion that you're probably not going to like."
"Oh yeah, what's that?"
"Why don't you and CJ forget about yesterday, and just start over tonight?" he recommended gently.
Charlie huffed. "Yeah, like that'll happen." Don sighed exasperatedly. "Oh come on Don, you know as well as I do that CJ doesn't forgive and forget easily."
"But will you?" Don challenged. Charlie looked confused. "Will you forget about yesterday and just start over tonight?"
Sighing, knowing he couldn't win this one, Charlie muttered, "Fine. I will if she will."
Don nodded. "She will."
"How do you know?" Charlie retorted.
"Because I'll tell her to," he shrugged.
Charlie rolled his eyes. "Good luck with that."
Don sighed, rolling his eyes too.
[][][][][]
"OK, so you know the deal?"
CJ rolled her eyes, sighing. "Yes, me and Charlie are gonna pretend we didn't see each other yesterday."
"Come on CJ, drop the attitude. You know things will go a lot smoother if you do." CJ didn't say anything, and Don took that to mean she agreed. "Here we are," he sighed as they pulled into the driveway. He glanced over at CJ, who looked like she wanted to run. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "You okay?" he questioned gently.
"I don't know if I can do this Donnie," she admitted anxiously.
"It'll be fine, OK?" He was trying to sound reassuring, but CJ still looked unsure. "Come on kiddo, you've gotta do this sooner or later, and I can wait all night until you do if I have to," he told her softly, but still firm, and CJ knew his threat was real.
"OK, let's do this," she said, trying to sound confident, but her voice still shook a little.
Don gave her a reassuring smile as they got out and headed to the door.
"You ready?" Don asked her.
CJ shook her head. "No, but let's do it anyway."
Don couldn't help but smirk as he opened the door and entered the house. "Hey guys," he called.
"Hey Don," Charlie greeted tensely, knowing CJ was probably standing right outside the door.
"Donnie! Hey, there you are," Alan said as he came into the living room. "Dinner should be ready soon." He noticed Don just nod nonchalantly. "Why are you still holding the door open?" he questioned curiously.
"Uh...well, I've got a surprise," Don started slowly. Alan gave him a questioning look, and Don took a deep breath as CJ walked in. "Look who I brought," Don said lightly, trying to ease the tension in the room as both Alan and Charlie were staring at CJ.
"Hey Dad," CJ greeted nervously.
A/N: Well, I hope you liked this chapter! I've started the next one already, but with classes and stuff I'm not sure how much time I'll be able to devote to writing. I'll have an update as soon as I can though, promise! Reviews are greatly appreciated!