Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Numb3rs or the characters. Jasmine is still mine.

Thanks for reading, constructive reviews always welcome.

Chapter Six – Glass.

Two weeks later Colby threw himself down in his chair and dropped the mail that he had picked up from his box at the apartment on his desk.

"Hey, did you manage to get any sleep?" asked David,

"Hi, nope. You?"

"A couple of hours. This surveillance for this drug ring is really messing with my sleep!"

Colby just nodded in agreement and closed his eyes for a few minutes.

"Morning guys. Did you get anything from last nights surveillance?"

"Nah, zip. How long are we going to keep this up for Megan?"

"Until we get something we can use or Don puts us on another case."

"Stop moping Granger, I'm gonna be a kind boss and let you have tonight off."

Colby's eyes shot open and he saw Don standing beside their cubicle. "Oh, hey Don."

Don merely grinned, he knew that spending night after night sitting in the back of a van waiting for something to happen was nobody's idea of a good time and certainly not David or Colby's.

"You can spend today catching up on paperwork."

"Can I go back to the van and do another 24 hours of surveillance?" asked Colby groaning.

"You wanted the life of an FBI agent, this is it. Heart stopping paperwork and surveillance." Chuckled David.

Colby snorted and turned to the pile of mail he had laid on his desk just a few minutes ago. Was it really only a few minutes ago though? To him it seemed like hours, he was so tired he could barely focus.

Bill, bill, another bill thought Colby as he opened the letters and stacked them in the order that they needed to be paid. The last envelope was an A4 brown, heavily padded, envelope. He had no idea what it was and only half paid attention as he opened it and put his hand inside without looking. His right hand closed around some tissue paper and he gripped the contents firmly before registering a stabbing pain in his hand and wrist. He let out a loud yell.

"What's up?" David span round in his chair to face his partner's desk.

Colby turned round and slowly took his hand out of the envelope, blood pouring from his hand and wrist.

"What the…" Was all Don got out before Megan grabbed Colby's hand and raised it trying to slow the flow of blood.

She turned to Don "He's got broken glass embedded in his hand and wrist."

David picked up the phone and asked reception to locate a medic and send them to the 7th floor immediately.

Charlie, who had just walked into the bullpen, rushed to the break room and came back with a clean towel.

Megan gently wrapped the towel round Colby's wrist to stop the blood running down the young agent's arm. She looked at him with concern, he had gone a distinct shade of grey.

"Colby, it's going to be ok."

He just looked at her and nodded.

At that moment Brian Jones appeared at the bank of elevators, Don stood up. "Over here Brian."

The SWAT medic took in the scene before him shaking his head. "Bruised ribs not enough for you Granger? How did this happen?"

"I just put my hand in that envelope and put my hand round something wrapped in tissue paper, next thing I know I've got blood pouring down my arm." Colby pointed to the envelope he had put back on his desk.

Don pulled on a pair of gloves and picked up the A4 padded envelope. Colby's home address was on a printed label on the front. "I'll take this to the lab and get them to have a look."

Brian moved Megan to one side to allow him to get a better look. "Well the glass has to come out and I'm not equipped to do that, it's the ER for you this time."

Don was expecting Colby to argue, but he didn't, so he turned to the medic. "Do we need to call for an ambulance or can one of us just take him?"

"If one of you can drive I'll come with you, I just need to call and let Tim know what's going on."

David picked up his car keys whilst Brian called his team leader, Tim King. "OK, let's go." Brian put a steadying hand under Colby's arm and helped him to his feet and they headed for the elevators and down to the garage, whilst Don and Megan headed for the lab, leaving Charlie behind in the cubicle to wait.

Brian helped Colby get into David's car and put his seatbelt on.

"No blood in the car Granger, or you clean it." Teased David.

"Yeah, yeah, your concern overwhelms me." Retorted Colby.

He looked at Brian and then at his right hand "How bad is it?"

"It's hard to tell, I know the bleeding looks bad but I don't think the glass has cut any major blood vessels. I think at least one bit of glass has gone into your palm quite deep. The hospital will probably want to x-ray your hand before cleaning it up."

Colby was not reassured, in fact if anything he was even greyer.

They pulled up outside the ER and Brian helped Colby extricate himself from the car without knocking his hand and walked him in whilst David went to park.

Brian managed to get the immediate attention of a nurse who took one look at the blood soaked towel wrapped round Colby's wrist and ushered them straight through to a trauma room to see a doctor.

By the time David joined them Colby was laying on a bed and was nearly as white as the sheet he was laying on and a nurse was carefully picking out pieces of glass.

"How is he?"

"As I thought no major blood vessels damaged, the nurse is just taking out the larger pieces of glass before taking him to x-ray to check for any smaller pieces that may be under the skin."

Colby chose that moment to swear. He looked at the nurse "Sorry but that hurts." She shrugged, she had heard worse. "I think I'll leave that one there until we've got x-rays as it seems to be quite deeply embedded." With that she grabbed a porter, helped Colby into a wheelchair and he was whisked off to have the x-rays done, leaving the other two men to wait for his return. David took the opportunity to call Don to give him an update on Colby's condition.

As Colby was wheeled back into the cubicle and helped onto the bed Brian spoke.

"How you feeling? How's the pain?"

"I feel like I have a ton of glass in my hand!" snapped Colby

"Colby!" Chastised David.

"Sorry Brian, to be honest I feel really sick and a bit light headed. As for the pain, it's not off the charts though I could have done without the nurse digging around in the wounds."

Just as Brian was about to respond a doctor walked into the cubicle.

"Hi, I'm Doctor Jensen, let's have a look at these x-rays." The nurse had put them up on the light box ready. "Hmmm…"

Colby looked from Brian and David to the Doctor. "What's the verdict?"

"Well there are a few small shards which we will get rid of when we irrigate the wounds, however this big piece in the middle of your palm is going to need a bit more assistance." Replied Dr Jensen, he turned to look at the man laying on the bed. "I understand the nurse has already tried to remove it without success." Colby nodded. "In that case I think we will need to inject a local anaesthetic into the area to numb it and allow us to manoeuvre the piece out, we'll then clean the wounds and stitch any that require it. OK, any questions?"

Colby shook his head, he was feeling quite sick and was worried that if he opened his mouth he would throw up all over the good doctor.

Brian followed the Doctor out of the room as he went to get the necessary equipment organised.

"Doc, I don't mean to stick my nose in, I'm the FBI Medic that attended to Colby at the scene, he told me he's feeling nauseous and light headed, not to mention he hasn't had any pain relief since this happened. Can you arrange for him to get something?"

Dr Jensen looked at the medic and smiled. "Of course. I'll ask the nurse to bring him something before we start the procedure."

"Thanks." He ducked back into the cubicle.

"Everything OK?" asked David.

The nurse came in at that moment carrying some water and pills.

"Here you are Agent Granger, some pain relief and something to help with the nausea."

Colby took the medicine from her and swallowed it gratefully, hoping that he didn't throw it straight back up. Once the nurse was satisfied that her patient was once again as comfortable as he could be she went in search of the doctor.

"Right, are you ready Colby?" Dr Jensen asked, receiving a nod in response.

The doctor injected local anaesthetic into Colby's palm on both sides of the sliver of glass.

Colby was turned away from his right hand talking to David about anything to distract him, but he still winced as the needle went in. A few minutes later the doctor indicated that his palm should be numb and he went on to remove the glass without Colby feeling any further pain. The doctor then turned to the nurse who proceeded to wash out the wounds and stitch those that required it. 15 minutes later she was done.

"There you are, all done. 18 stitches." She said as she put a dressing round his hand. "No getting the hand wet for a week, you need to change the dressing every other day, the stitches should dissolve within 2 weeks. Any sign of swelling or infection then you need to seek medical advice straight away. OK?" Colby nodded. "I'll go and get your discharge papers and some more pain meds."

"I'll call Don and let him know you're done and that I'm dropping you home."
"No, I'm going back to the office, no arguments David."

Brian just shrugged when David looked at him, he knew the agent was putting on a brave front, but he also knew that his body would tell him when it was time to rest.

The 3 men got out of the car at the FBI offices and went their separate ways.

"Thanks for your help Brian."
"I'd say anytime, but you'd be knocking on my door every other day." He winked and walked away.

Colby and David got on an elevator to the 7th floor.

"Hey Don."
"Didn't expect to see you back today." He shot a look at David, who just gave a 'what do you want me to do' shrug and sat at his desk.

"How are you feeling?"

"Hi Charlie, I'm ok thanks. Don, what do you think the chances are of this being linked to the whole wreath incident."

"You're asking the wrong Eppes!"

"Well the probability of the 2 things being connected is reasonably high, however in your line of work it's not out of the question that it's two different people."

"Thanks for clearing that up Charlie."

"Colby will you sit down before you fall down." Instructed Megan coming into the bullpen. She waited until Colby had sat in his chair. "Just got back from the lab, no fingerprints and no DNA, apart from Colby's."

"Another similarity to the wreath." Stated David.

"None of which helps." Responded Don.

"Well the more data the better, I can run some expressions on what you have, but to be honest I would need more, er, incidents."

"Are you telling us that you need more threats?" asked Megan astounded.

Charlie had the grace to look embarrassed. "It's just it's more data, which makes motive easier to ascertain."

David glanced over at his partner, he had slid down in his chair and his eyes were closed, he managed to get Megan and Don's attention without saying anything.

"That's it, Colby, get your jacket I'm taking you home." Colby's eyes shot open and he started to protest. "Forget it, I'm not taking no for an answer, I'm making this an order." Don stood up and walked over to impress up on his youngest team member just how serious he was. Colby sighed and grabbed his jacket, feeling like a naughty school boy, waved to the others and followed Don to the elevators.

"I won't be long." Said Don as he walked away.

On arriving at Colby's apartment Don got him a glass of water and handed it to him.

"Take your pain meds and go to bed. Call me tomorrow morning and let me know how you are."

"Yeah, ok, but I'll be fine."

"I'll be the judge of that."

Colby wanted to protest but took his meds and nodded. He followed Don to the door. "Thanks man, speak to you tomorrow." With that Don left and Colby locked the door behind him, walked through to the bedroom, stripped to his boxers and climbed into bed. He fell into a deep, dreamless sleep within minutes of his head touching the pillow.

It was 3 days before Don would allow Colby to return to work, much to the younger mans frustration. The only upside was by the time he returned the surveillance of the drug ring had been handed off to another team.