Disclaimer: As I have already mentioned, I do not own Numb3rs or any of the related characters. Jasmine is my creation.

Thanks for reading.

Chapter Ten – Knife.

It had been 2 days since Colby had been taken off the ventilator, Dr Vassen was happy with his progress, he was being moved to a medical room and he was finally off the oxygen, though still receiving pain relief. The patient was starting to get fractious at being figuratively tied to his hospital bed, but the doctor had made it clear that any attempt on his part to get up before he was ready could lead to a longer stay in hospital, this threat had the desired effect of keeping him resting. His team and their extended family had been with him round the clock, including Jasmine. He felt extremely lucky to have such a strong support network and had been glad of the company during the night when he had woken with nightmares and had found it difficult to settle again. His move to a medical room would effectively put a stop to the extended visiting hours, but if he had his way he'd be out of the hospital in a few days.

He hadn't been settled in his new room long when there was a gentle knock on the door and Jasmine appeared.

"Hey you. How you feeling?" she asked, a smile lighting up her face.

"I'm OK, glad to be out of ICU. Just waiting for someone to let me outta this bed!"

"You know what the doctor said, just be patient."

"Yeah I know, but I'm not used to just laying around. I want to get up!"

Just as Jasmine was about to reply there was another knock on the door and Doctor Vassen appeared. "Are you grumbling about wanting to get out of bed Agent Granger?" Colby had the good grace to look embarrassed, Doctor Vassen laughed. "I have actually come to make your wish come true."

"Really? I can get up?"

"Just for an hour or so. We'll get you up and sit you in the chair next to the bed."
"Aw come on Doc, can't I at least get outside? Please?"

She looked at her patient thoughtfully. "OK, I'll compromise. We'll get you out of bed and into a wheelchair, you can leave the ward for no more than 30 minutes, but I want your solemn promise you'll be back in this room after that time."

Colby smiled and nodded, delighted to have got this concession.

Shaking her head and wondering how she walked into that the doctor beckoned a nurse into the room to assist with getting Colby out of bed. Jasmine waited impatiently in the corridor for him and smiled when she saw him sitting in the wheelchair looking like he was ready to escape, permanently.

"Now remember what I said Colby. 30 minutes, you over do it now and it could set you back and I think the nurses are sick of looking at you!" Joked Doctor Vassen.

Colby put his hand over his heart. "I swear on my life Doc, I'll be back in 30 minutes."

"I'll make sure he follows your instructions Doctor Vassen." Asserted Jasmine, taking control of the chair and wheeling him passed the nurses station towards the elevators and, for Colby, a little bit of freedom.

She pushed him out into a courtyard area with plenty of shade and sat down on a bench next to him, just enjoying being with him. Colby looked round at the blue sky, the flowers in the courtyard and listened to the sound of the birds. He suddenly had a whole new appreciation for the world around him.

"How are you holding up, Jasmine?" He asked softly.

She turned to him. "Don't be worrying about me, you need to concentrate on getting better."

"I'm fine, I just want to make sure you are."

"Always worrying about others. I'm fine Colby, honestly. Jason is in prison where he belongs and I can start living my life without fear again."

"I'm glad."
"I wish it hadn't nearly cost you your life though."

"It's a small price to pay to know that he can't hurt anyone anymore. It may not have been the best way to get him behind bars, but it was very effective. Attempted murder of a Federal Agent, kidnapping and weapons offences, he'll be going away for a long time."

Jasmine closed her eyes and tilted her head towards the sky, enjoying the feel of the warm sun on her face. "Thank you." She said, simply, opening her eyes she looked at him and they exchanged smiles. "Right, times up, back to your room."
Colby groaned but didn't protest, although he'd not admit it he was starting to get tired, which he found unbelievable considering all the sleeping he'd been doing lately.

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Once the staff had safely returned Colby to his bed Jasmine returned to sit with him a little longer. His trip out had caused him a little discomfort, but nothing that wasn't to be expected following his injuries. The nurses left the door to the room open as they wanted to keep a close eye on him for a little while after his first foray out of bed.

She watched as Colby yawned and closed his eyes, before he could even think about saying anything he was asleep. She smiled, turned towards the open door and nodded her head at a figure standing outside in the corridor then leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, sighing contentedly.

A short time later when David arrived he found the pair still sleeping. He smiled to himself before going to speak to the nurses to find out how his partner was doing. He didn't want to wake either of them, they both needed their rest. The last few days had been hard on everyone.

Once the team had been assured of Colby's recovery they had turned their attentions to Jason Rutherford, they intended to make sure there was no way that the man could weasel his way out of the charges against him. He had lawyered up and was saying very little, but the evidence was enough to put him away for a long time, they didn't need a confession. The only thing that Rutherford would say was that he had been set up by Jasmine, considering the state of her when she was found cowering in the bathroom nobody believed a word of it.

It was clear to David, in fact to everyone but Colby, how Jasmine felt about him. He was glad that she cared so much for his friend and hoped that he would come to his senses. He wanted Colby to be as happy as he was with Claudia.

Once he'd spoken to the nursing staff he returned to the room. As he walked in Colby stirred and David walked up to the bed placing his finger to his lips and indicating a still sleeping Jasmine.

"Hey Dude." Whispered Colby "They finally let me outta bed."

"So I hear, another step closer to escape huh?"

"Oh yeah. The staff have been great, but I can't wait to get home."

David looked at his partner but decided now was not the time to broach the subject of where Colby was going to go once he was discharged. No way would he be fit to leave the hospital and go straight to living on his own. There had been a few discussions around this amongst the group. There were a few suggestions, but they were waiting until there was a definitive discharge date to raise it with Colby as they didn't think being told he couldn't go home would go down too well with the fiercely independent man.

"Not been given a date yet I take it?"

"Nope, Doctor Vassen has dropped hints, but nothing concrete yet." Sighed Colby.

"Come on man, you nearly died a few days ago, have some patience."

"That is not one of his strong suits." Came Jasmine's voice from behind David.

"Hey Jasmine, sorry I was trying not to wake you." Responded David. "You're right it isn't. I feel for the nursing staff!"

"Me too, you should have heard him bargaining with the doctor about whether he could go outside."

"Oh I can imagine, did he try the puppy dog eyes?"

"Yup. He sure did. Not sure that works on anyone, let alone Doctor Vassen."

"Hey you two, I am in the room ya know!"

David turned and winked at Jasmine before replying. "Yeah, but what ya gonna do about it?"

"Just you wait till I'm up and about Sinclair, I'll get ya back." He growled good naturedly.

"Uh huh, be a while before you can catch me dude." David shot back.

"Doncha have work to be doing?" asked Colby.

"Actually, as fun as this has been, yeah, I do." He sighed regretfully. "I better get back and pass on the news of your adventure into the big wide world! Both Don and Megan said they'd be by later."

"OK, thanks for stopping by man."

"No worries, take it easy and don't give the nurses a hard time, they're not going to let you out of here any quicker." With that David said bye to Jasmine and left the pair alone once more.

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David returned to FBI headquarters and was happily filling in Don and Megan on Colby's progress. They were as delighted as he to know their friend and colleague was on the mend, they missed him around the office, even the other agents had started to comment on how they couldn't stand a spoon up in the coffee because Granger wasn't around to make it.

At that moment David's desk phone rang.

"Sinclair…. Yes, OK, I'll be right down." He turned to his two colleagues. "That was the mail room, apparently a package has been delivered addressed to me and when it went through the metal detector it set it off. They scanned it and there's something wrong, but they won't tell me what, they want me to go down."
"We'll come with you." Responded Don a note of concern in his voice.

The threesome descended to the ground floor and headed for the mail room.

"Hi, I'm Agent Sinclair…"
"Agent Sinclair, I'm Donna Champion, I am the supervisor here." They shook hands and introductions were quickly made before they followed her back into her office.

"Due to the metal detector being set off we scanned the package, there is no incendiary device or anything of that nature, but there appears to be a knife of some description in the box." She showed them a picture. They exchanged puzzled glances. She indicated a box on her desk. "This is the box, once we were sure there was nothing that could injure anyone we felt it best to call you down here to open it."

David nodded and carefully opened the box, noting that there was no return address, what he saw when he removed the packaging around the contents made him feel ill.

"David? What is it?" Don tried to get his attention but he was unable to string a sentence together. He simply moved to one side to allow both Don and Megan to see what was inside. Don swore softly, whilst Megan clasped a hand over her mouth.

Laying in the box was a board, stuck to that was what appeared to be a photo of a sleeping Colby in his hospital bed with Jasmine asleep in a chair next to him, imbedded in the picture was a fierce looking knife. Someone had also taken the time to drip what appeared to be blood over the photo.

After a minute of stunned silence Don spoke. "I want a lab tech here now, they need to check for finger prints and run a DNA sequence on the blood." He turned to Donna Champion. "Who took delivery of the package? I need to know the name of the person who delivered it, what company they worked for, what they looked like." The woman nodded and hurried off to find the information. "There is no way to know if this is a threat against one or both of them. We need to get Jasmine into protective custody and get an agent on Colby right now."

At that moment a lab tech appeared, presumably called by an extremely efficient Donna. He was shown the box, given instructions and donning a pair of gloves removed the offending item to the lab for tests.

The team hurried out of the office and went back upstairs, Don headed to the AD's office to get authorisation for protection for both Jasmine and Colby. The AD was horrified to hear about the threat and immediately agreed to Don's request, placing Liz Warner temporarily back with the team to assist, after they had broken up she had gone to work for another team, but she was a good agent and he was happy to have someone familiar with the team assisting them.

Don quickly gave her a brief rundown of the situation, he told her about the funeral wreath and the glass as well. When he was finished he, Megan, David and Liz all headed out to the hospital.

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Colby frowned as the four agents trooped into his room, he could tell by their demeanours that something was up.

"What's going on?" He asked immediately.

Jasmine glanced from Colby to the four agents, one of whom she didn't recognise.

"There's been a development. David received a package at headquarters today, it contained a threat against you and Jasmine." Don decided not to beat around the bush and get the inevitable over and done with, he knew Colby was not going to be thrilled at the idea of being protected by others.

"What do you mean a threat? Is it possible that it was sent before Rutherford was locked up?"

David shook his head. "No man, that's not possible. There was a photo in the package of you and Jasmine, asleep, in this room. Exactly as I found you a few hours ago."

Jasmine gasped. "This can't be happening, I thought I was finally safe."

"We need to put you into protective custody Jasmine. Megan and Liz will take you somewhere and stay with you, it's for your own safety." Don quickly introduced Liz to Jasmine. She turned to look at Colby.

"You need to do as Don says Jasmine. You're not safe here with me."
"What about you?"

"David and I will be staying with him." Before Colby could open his mouth to protest Don cut him off. "Don't even think about arguing with me about this Granger." His tone of voice brooked no argument.

"Jasmine, go with Liz and Megan, they'll look after you. Please."

"Will I be able to come and see you?"

"That will depend on whether they think it's safe or not. Don't worry, I'll be fine, you need to go with them now."

She nodded in acquiescence, leant over and kissed him on the cheek, upset that once again she was being taken away from him but doing what he asked because she cared for him. Colby watched them leave, Megan giving him a reassuring smile.

"Now are you going to tell me what exactly the threat was?" Colby asked once they were out of ear shot.

David filled him in and watched his friend's face go slightly paler.

"I don't understand this, any of it. Who the hell is after Jasmine now?"

"Colby, think about it, the previous threats, the wreath, the glass they were directed at you, this thing with Rutherford may have been a big red herring, a coincidence."

"Don, you know what Charlie would say about that."

"Yeah, statistically improbable, but not impossible though. Perhaps we need to ask him to take another look at this."

"I dunno, I don't want to put him at risk too. If this is directed at me I've already put Jasmine in harms way. I'm not prepared to risk anyone else to save my own ass, that includes the two of you."

"We're big boys, we can take care of ourselves. Without getting all big brother on you, you're in no condition to protect yourself, you need our help, it's time to get over yourself and accept it." Don was passed being nice, he decided that now was the time to be blunt.

Colby looked at his boss and partner, his friends and sighed, he knew if the roles were reversed he would say the same to either one of them. "OK, but can we agree not to involve Charlie, at least not for the time being."
"You have a deal." Don and David exchanged glances, both relieved that he hadn't put up more of a fight.

A nurse chose that moment to enter the room, if she felt the tension she said nothing. "OK Colby, time for your pain meds." She poured him some water and handed him the tablets, which he reluctantly took. They knocked him out, but he was in pain and tired, he trusted the two men and decided now was no time to play the hero, he had to get better and find out who had turned his life upside down.

The nurse helped him settle lower in the bed, and once satisfied that her patient was comfortable she left the room turning out the main light and leaving only a bedside lamp lit.

David rested his hand gently on Colby's still bandaged arm. "Rest, I'll be here when you wake up, we've got your back."

Simply nodding, Colby closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift off to sleep.

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Whilst Colby slept, David stayed at the hospital and Don returned to the FBI offices to follow up on the courier with Donna and to speak with the techs. He was not surprised to find that the courier company didn't recognise the man in the pictures taken from the security footage, he had been wearing dark glasses and a baseball cap pulled low to shadow his features, Don doubted his own mother would recognise him. The techs hadn't had much more luck, once again there were no finger prints and the blood wasn't a match to any DNA samples in the database. The knife in the box was a military one, but could be purchased at any army surplus store.

Once again they were at a dead end. He was worried about the safety of his team members, but especially about Colby. He resolved to do everything in his power to find out who was behind this and put them away for the rest of their natural lives. The team had been through so much he was damned if he was going to let some psycho tear them apart now.

He had agreed with David that he would head home to get some sleep before going back to the hospital to relieve him, so picking up his car keys he headed out, but instead of going back to his apartment he drove out to Charlie's. He had made a promise to Colby not to involve Charlie, and he was going to keep it, but that didn't mean he couldn't visit. Right now he needed the reassurance his brother and Dad could offer him.