My Beautiful Doll

Warning: Nothing, it's a safe chapter guys! (I know we all need one of those after the last few chapters that we have...)

A/N: Heyyyyy! I don't really have any life updates or snarky remarks today, so enjoy a very brief author's note. That's all from me, have a nice day!

Megan couldn't help but feel a small shiver up her spine every time she had to repeat the video. Throughout all her years of criminal profiling, she's never had to analyze something with someone she knows as the victim. It just doesn't happen. She'd never expected Don, who is one of the strongest and most careful people she knows, go through one of the most horrific things anyone could go through.

Although judging by the old scars her boss has, she had a feeling that there was more to his experiences than what meets the eye.

She chugged down another cup of coffee as she walked out of the tech rooms, the walls feel like they're suffocating her more than the collar that Don has. Looking around, she could see the change in atmosphere in the office. She could tell that their failure weighed heavily on the agents. They looked tense and apologetic every time she passed them. She couldn't blame them really. They were so close to saving him.

She just hoped that by the time they got to him, he could forgive them.

Megan couldn't help but reminisce about the time when Don helped her. During that tough time after she got an agent killed, it was Don who came and comforted her in his own way. He was the one that gave her that pep talk, snapping her out of her own turmoil. She would always be forever grateful to him for doing that. A part of her wanted to laugh at that. Don was always too good at taking care of other people, but when it came to himself?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

"He's always been like that," Alan spoke up from behind her, taking her out of her reverie. Megan gave him a questioning look. "Don, you were thinking about him, weren't you? About how he's always been the one to look out for people?"

"Was it obvious?"

Alan let out a tired sigh, "Call it a father's intuition. Also, you have the same guilty look that everyone else has."

"Ah…I see…". For once, Megan was at a loss. She didn't know what to do.

"Be honest with me, do you think Don's coming out of this intact?" There was an underlying message there, one that she could read clearly.

"I…I have no clue," she said truthfully. Stubbornness can only get you so far and in this situation, Megan wasn't sure if fighting back was even a good option. Alan looked at her with a pained expression on his face.

"I guess I should've known better than to ask for concrete answers," he said sadly. While she knows that he didn't mean it, that comment didn't fail to stab her in the heart.

"Alan, I'm sorry but unfortunately, we don't have all the answers."

Alan smiled as he patted her on the shoulder. "I'm not blaming anyone" he smiled kindly, "it's just that, I wish that we had some concrete answers."

Megan gripped her cup tightly, "You're not the only one…"

"Guys! I think I have something!" Charlie called out from within the war room. His eyes were red and puffy, signaling to everyone that he had been crying while he worked. After they stopped the recording, Charlie all but kicked everyone out of the room, saying that he needed to work. They all tried to get him to take a break, but he had been relentless. As much as she wished Charlie would stop pushing himself, she understood where he was coming from. As soon as Charlie kicked them out, everyone went on their own investigation. David and Colby had gone and called up various establishments and places for rent, ones that match the descriptor of the places that Baker liked to use. Ian went and re-visited the crime scenes just to see if there was anything they missed. Billy went through his contacts, people on the streets who would've heard something odd. And she tried to get to comb through Baker's files to see if there was anything there that could give them a clue.

So far, they've run empty.

So when Charlie burst out of the room looking excited, all of them (sans Alan) wasted no time in running inside. "What did you find?" David asked, sitting down.

"Well remember what I said earlier about using the times in between Baker putting me and Dad in a barn, putting Don in a secret location, and then going to the FBI building to try and pinpoint a general area?"

"Yeah. Did you do it?" Ian looked interested as he leaned forward, one hand under his chin.

Charlie nodded as he pressed a button, showing the map of LA. "Here is our house," he said, pointing towards one of the circled areas. "This is the barn that me and Dad were in, and this is the FBI building". They all nodded. "Now judging by how far the barn was relative to the other places and then comparing it to the time that he arrived at the FBI office, I have determined that they are around….here!" He said with a flourish, pressing the button and changing the map from a bunch of circled places to one area that was coloured in.

Everyone jumped to their feet. "You sure about this?" Billy asked, looking at the map in suspicion.

"About the math? I'm a hundred percent positive." But even with that statement, Charlie looked a bit hesitant.

"Charlie," Megan asked softly, "is there something you're not telling us?"

Charlie shifted his weight from one foot to another, looking worried. "Well…we're doing these calculations based on my assumptions…but what if they were wrong? What if there were other variables that I haven't accounted for? What if I blew the one chance I have in saving my brother?"

Megan froze as she looked at Charlie, his eyes now wide with even more tears. Her heart felt like it was stabbed a million times. How do I answer? She wished Don was here. He would've known what to say, even if it seems a bit harsh at times.

"We won't know until we try it," Colby said from behind her, putting a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "Look, this assumption of yours is the only lead we have so far. Even if it's a long shot, it's still a shot we should take."

David sighed, "I can't believe I'm going to say this but Colby's right. Our job is based on evidence yes, but it's also based on instincts and guesswork too. You can't find evidence if you don't know where to look. And if all the usual suspects dry out, you're going to have to get creative. And right now, this is one of the few starting points that we have."

Charlie still looked unconvinced, clearly needing something more concrete than that. But before Megan could say anything, Billy spoke up. "Do you think your brother is good at his job?"

Charlie looked taken aback by the sudden question, "Of course. I think he's one of the best."

"Did you know that during his entire fugitive recovery career, your brother caught ninety percent of his targets using his intuition?"

That managed to get Charlie's attention. "You're serious?"

Billy waved his hand around, "I'll tell you all the stories later, but all I can say for now is that your brother's intuition is usually what separates a successful catch from a non-successful one. A strong hunch is already a strong place to start." Then he pointed his chin at the map of LA that Charlie had marked on the projector, "And that is one hell of a place to start."

Charlie sighed as he ran a hand through his curls, looking distressed. Amita, who up until this point has been silent, went up and offered him a comforting hand. "They're right Charlie. We won't know if we're wrong or not unless we test our hypothesis. And which would you prefer? Would you rather have us run around and end up empty or would you rather have us do nothing and then find out later that Don was in one of these locations?"

"I… you're right…" he said, looking down. He gripped the remote tightly, "I'll send you guys a more detailed map of the possible places they could be."

"Alright, thanks Charlie" she said as they all grabbed their gear, ready to start searching. But when Megan went to take her jacket from the chair, Charlie grabbed her hand. "Is everything alright?" she asked gently.

"Please…promise me…bring him home safely" he whispered as tears started to slowly trail down his face. "I just got my brother back, I can't lose him again."

Megan had to fight back her own tears. She wanted to tell the truth, saying that she couldn't promise anything. She was always conscious about the golden rule of working in law enforcement. But looking at Charlie's distraught face, knowing the spotty history behind Don and Charlie's childhood and how working in the FBI mended that, and knowing how much Don would've wanted her to cover Charlie from the harshness of the job as much as possible, she ended up saying something she never thought she'd say.

"I promise, we'll get him home."

A/N: Poor Charlie man. He just got his brother back only to have him torn away from him again. Poor Megan is under pressure. Just...no one is having a good time here (except for Baker but that's a given).