Disclaimer: As before I own nothing to do with Numb3rs, I have "borrowed" the characters temporarily. Jasmine is still my creation.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy.

Chapter Three – Champagne Dinner.

Colby walked slowly into the bullpen, he was in no hurry to get his dressing down from his boss.

Don, David and Megan looked up as he walked into the cubicle area shared by the team.

"Jesus Granger, that is gonna be one nasty black eye!" Stated Megan trying not to laugh at the look off trepidation on the young man's face.

David just shook his head in disbelief that someone had actually got the jump on Colby.

"War room, now." Said Don as he got up and walked away from his desk.

A dejected Colby followed him obediently. He closed the door behind him and stood to face his boss.

"What were you thinking, going into a situation like that blind? What if the guy had a gun or had other people with him? Instead of standing here chewing you out I could be down at the morgue identifying your body." Don ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

"I'm sorry Don."
"That doesn't cut it Colby, you know better than this. You're a good agent, no a great agent, with the potential to be one of the best I've worked with, but you get emotionally involved like this and common sense goes out the window."

"You're right, but I couldn't stand by and do nothing, it wasn't FBI business so I didn't want to get you involved."
"Next time, come to me, let me decide if I want to get involved. We're a team, Colby, and everything that implies, we have each others backs all of the time, and that includes in personal situations. Stop thinking that you can do everything yourself. You screw up like this again and I'll put you on 2 weeks suspension, unpaid, is that clear?"

"Crystal."

Sighing Don looked at his agent. "Get yourself down to the medics and get something to put on that eye, don't want anyone thinking I did that!"

Colby gave a small smile. He nodded and Colby walked out of the war room, putting a hand on Don's arm as he walked passed "Sorry Boss." Then he left in search of a medic to get another ice pack from, in truth his eye was beginning to hurt.

Jasmine changed her outfit for the third time that evening. Colby is gorgeous but she really didn't want him to think that she was out to snag herself a new man. She was hungry for male company, that's true, but not in a sexual way, necessarily. She finally settled on a pair of casual linen trousers and a white off the shoulder top. She sprayed her favourite perfume and walked downstairs in bare feet and headed to the kitchen where she put the finishing touches to a simple meal of salmon, potatoes and salad. She put a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket next to the table outside and lit the candles. Just then the bell chimed. She looked at the video viewer for the camera by the gate and saw Colby in his car, she pressed a button and the gate opened. She walked out to the front of the house to meet him.

"Hey Colby."

"Hi Josie." He replied getting out of his car. "You look lovely."

"Thank you, you don't look so bad yourself, though that eye looks sore."

"It's nothing, it looks worse than it is." He responded.

She smiled and signalled for him to follow her back into the house. She gave him the briefest of tours round the downstairs before heading out to the backyard.

"Would you mind opening the champagne for me?"

He shook his head as she handed him the bottle, which he deftly opened and poured. He handed her a glass and she raised hers in a toast.

"To new friends." He smiled and returned the toast. "Please sit down, dinner is almost ready." She turned back to the kitchen and dished the food up onto the plates which she brought out and placed on the table. There was a companionable silence as they settled down to eat.

"So what have you been up to today?" he asked.

"Not a great deal, I have to admit, relaxed by the pool mainly. How did it go with your boss?"

"I still have a bit of ass for him to chew off the next time I screw up! To be fair to him I deserved it, I should have spoken to him before heading over here with you and told him what was going on."

"I'm sorry to have gotten you into trouble"

"I think it's safe to say I manage to do that by myself most of the time, I don't need your help." He smiled

"What did you do before you were in the FBI?"

"I was in the Army, Special Forces and then CID. I did a tour in Afghanistan and after an incident involving an RPG I was discharged. When I got home the FBI seemed a natural place for me to end up."

"Do you enjoy working at the FBI?"

"I love it." His eyes shone as he spoke about his work. "The team I'm working with are great. Our boss, Don, has a brother, Charlie, a mathematician, who consults with us and we're actually like part of his extended family. Don and Charlie's Dad is like a surrogate father."

"A mathematician consults on cases?" She asked, astounded.

"Yeah, I know it's hard to believe, but Charlie has pulled us outta the fire with his expressions and equations on more than one occasion."

"So how many other members of the team are there?"

"Well there's David, he's my partner and Megan, she's a profiler. She keeps us all in line." He smiled fondly.

"Must be nice to feel that the people you work with are like family."

"Yeah, it is. My family are so far away and my Dad died when I was 15, but that's enough about me, what about you?"

"I went to visit my family in the UK a few months ago after I split up with Jason. My parents never liked him, nor he them, and we didn't talk much whilst I was with him. They were pleased he was out of my life but they have no desire to travel out here to visit at the moment."

"Have you thought about moving back?"

"Oh yeah, at my lowest moments, sure. I love it here though. I miss my family, including my two older brothers, but my life is here now."

"What about friends?"

"Most of them are married with children so it's rare for them to have a night free, and Jason didn't really like me going out unless it was with him."

"I've said it before, I'll say it again, it's hard to meet people in LA." He states.

She smiled and nodded. "Anyway enough of that, would you like some dessert? I have strawberry cheesecake."

"That would be lovely, thanks." She started to clear the table, he picked up his plate and followed her into the kitchen. "I have really enjoyed tonight Jasmine, it's nice to talk to a woman and there be no expectations."

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself." She handed him some cheesecake and they headed back outside to finish the meal.

They spent the next hour laughing, telling each other stories about their childhood, during which time she had consumed most of the bottle of champagne, which made Colby a little uncomfortable as she kept leaning into him and rubbing his arm. He decided it was time for him to leave before she said or did something she would regret later.

"Sorry Jasmine, I really need to head home, I have an early start tomorrow. Thank you for a lovely evening."

"Oh, are you sure you can't stay, or how about coming by in the morning for breakfast?" Jasmine pouted a little.

"I have a previous engagement tomorrow morning, I can't, I have to be in the office early to take a statement from a witness in the case we've just wrapped up and there is nobody else as they're all working a new drug ring case."

"Oh, OK, thank you for coming Colby. Maybe we can do this again sometime?"

"Yeah, maybe."

She watched as he drove off into the night and sighed.

I wish he wanted more than friendship, he's a nice guy. She headed to the kitchen to load the dishwasher and clear up before heading to bed.