My Beautiful Doll
Warning: Nothing. It's another safe chapter.
A/N: Hi. Sorry for the slight lateness, but mid-terms were busting my skull. That and I was kind of struggling what to do with this chapter. I hope you guys like it. Have a good day!
Five hours and ten cups of coffee in, Don was re-thinking his career choices.
They had been reading up on all of the case files regarding the Artist and had managed to make a sizable dent in the pile. With the work divided between the two of them, they were able to read through them faster. Not as fast as if we had a team though he thought to himself. A part of him wanted to give in and call his team, but he shook his head. He knew everyone was practically close to sleeping on their feet the last time he saw them. He couldn't afford to have other members compromised. Rubbing his temples, he could tell that he was close to his limit.
"I'm going to grab another cup." He muttered. Stepping out of the war room, he allowed himself to stretch his stiff limbs. God…how is it only 9am? It certainly felt like forever. Stifling a yawn, he headed straight towards the break room.
The break room was empty when he walked in, which was a godsend. Dropping all pretense of being awake, he sat down and closed his eyes, willing the headache that was starting to make itself known go away. He was about to doze off before his phone rang. Loudly.
"Eppes" he said, tone clipped and formal, making sure his voice was devoid of any sign of exhaustion.
"Has there ever been a time where you don't sound like you're on duty?" a familiar voice replied.
He blinked for a second and checked the caller ID. Sure enough, he definitely wasn't mistaken. "Charlie? Why are you calling me? Is everything alright?". His brother didn't usually call him unprompted outside of work, not unless there was something he needed.
"Whoa Don, slow down! Don't worry, everything's fine actually"
Don paused, then he checked the area around him. Everything seems to be in place…
"Don, you okay?" Charlie sounds worried.
"I'm fine. It's just that I'm trying to see if I have accidentally stepped into an alternate dimension"
"Funny…" Charlie said sarcastically. Don could even hear the eye roll.
"I try to be," he replied, smiling. Leaning back into the stiff chair, he decided to ask again. "Care to tell me why you're calling me at 9am?"
"Oh…uh…did I wake you?" Charlie sounded apologetic.
Don shook his head, "Nah, I was already awake. Now, don't try to change the subject."
"I'm not!" He shouted, trying to defend himself. "It's just that…well- maybe I…" he trailed off, probably trying to find a suitable excuse without embarrassing himself.
Don chuckled. "If you're worried about me, just say it."
"Wait, I never said-! How did you…?" For once, his brother is somewhat lost for words.
At that, Don grinned widely. He could picture the astonished and embarrassed look on Charlie's face. He had always cherished these moments. Times when he was the one surprising or confusing his brother. They were few and far between, but it was always worth it. "C'mon Chuck, have faith in me. I am an FBI agent after all."
"So you keep reminding me" Charlie grumbled, somehow managing to sound like a petulant child. Don could hear his brother sigh before asking, "So…are you okay there? I know with everyone being out of town, you're probably bored out of your mind right now and itching to go back to work. But I think you should remember that taking a break is good for you. In fact, there was a study shown in-"
"Charlie!" Don interjected. He knew that if he didn't say anything, Charlie could go on for hours. "I appreciate the concern buddy, but something tells me that you called me for reasons other than to lecture me about my work/life habits."
There was silence on the other line.
"Hey, are you okay?". He was getting a bit concerned.
"Don…can you read minds?"
It took a moment for that to sink in. But once it did, Don instantly lost it. He laughed, leaning forward as he clutched his stomach. He could feel tears in his eyes. The notion of Charlie, resident skeptic and mathematical genius writing off his brother's observational abilities as something adjacent to magic in a serious tone had to be one of the funniest things Don's heard in some time. That or I've officially gone completely insane. Although, he was pretty sure that everyone around him would've said that he had already gone insane ages ago.
It took some time, but he managed to get his laughter under control. "Buddy, how is THAT your first thought?" he asked, wiping tears from his eyes.
"Hey! In my defense, you've always pulled some weird mind reading stunts".
"Enough for you to come to that conclusion?"
"You have to admit, it's happened far too many times for it to not be a coincidence. Plus, I'm not the only one who believes it. I'm pretty sure half of the FBI agents would be wearing tin foil hats around you if they were allowed."
"That's not mind reading Chuck, that's called being observant."
Don could hear Charlie snort in disbelief. "Trust me Don, I would be the first person to write what you do off as 'observant'". Don could hear the air quotes on that last word. "But if I can't use math to find out how you always know when Dad is making rib-eye, then at some point I'll have to throw in the towel and call it magic. And that's still one of many! I know for a fact that there is an office bet about you possibly having supernatural abilities."
Don smiled. "Well, if people think that then I must be doing something right". He'll definitely ask his team about the bet later. "Speaking of abilities, my powers are telling me that you're still trying to avoid the subject."
"I-fine!" Charlie said, exasperated. "Damn older brothers and their mind reading powers" he muttered under his breath. Don snorted at that, but let him continue. "I had a dream."
Don raised his eyebrow, now that's new. "What dream?"
"Well, it was weird. One moment we were laughing in the backyard and having a barbecue. The next moment, you were looking at a bunch of crime scene photos, holding a doll with blood on it. When I tried to get to you, this terrifying sense for doom stopped me. After that, I woke up. When I did, I had an odd feeling about you, so I decided to call."
Don almost dropped his phone at that. And he calls ME a psychic? He took a deep breath, making sure that his voice doesn't betray how he's actually feeling. "A doll huh…that's pretty strange".
"Yeah. I've been trying to figure out what it means, but no luck so far"
"Yeah well, I don't think I have an answer for that either. But I appreciate the call though."
"Really? Then maybe I should call you more often" Charlie mused.
"Maybe". But before Don could say anything more, there was a knock on the break room door. Looking up, he saw Gary standing near the door with a box in his arms. Realizing what it was, he nodded. "Hey, sorry to cut this conversation short Chuck, but I need to go."
"Okay first of all, stop calling me Chuck. Second of all, you're not going to work, are you?". And there it was, the suspicious tone was back on full force. But this time, not half as entertaining.
"Nah, I'm not going back to work. I'm just meeting up with an old friend."
"Alright then…have fun I guess."
"You too Chuck."
"Hey-" but he didn't manage to finish before Don abruptly finished the call.
"Was that Charlie?" Gary asked.
"Yeah, nothing too important," he shrugged. Then he pointed towards the box. "Is that the recent case?"
"Yeah. I made sure everything was right where it should be". Then he walked towards the table and placed the box there.
Don stood up to get a better view. Looking inside, he could see the labels on the files. Grabbing the one labeled 'Coroner's report', he read it.
Death by asphyxiation. Multiple lacerations. Broken ribs. Gruesome death, but nothing- wait…
"Hey, this says here that a part of her heart is missing?"
Gary nodded. "The killer took a part of her heart, the left ventricle"
Don crossed his arms, deep in thought. Why do I have a feeling that that's important to us? Like something has changed. It's not like he hasn't taken organs before, but somehow, this feels different this time. But what does it mean?
"Hey Eppes, you good?" Gary asked, tapping Don on the shoulder.
"Huh? Oh! Yeah, I'm fine" he said, smiling. "It's just that something is bothering me about this."
"About the missing heart?"
Don nodded. "Yeah, something about that just seems off to me. I just can't tell you what it is…" he sighed, a little frustrated.
"I understand. Sometimes your instincts are trying to tell you things that you don't know. So for now, you should put a pin on that. Later down the line, when you have more information, you can revisit this feeling. Hopefully it should make more sense by then."
"You're right. I'll take these back to the war room and run them by Agent Baker."
Gary blinked in confusion. "Wait, the other agent is here already?"
"Yeah. Apparently he's been here for a week. The last murder pointed towards somewhere in the LA area. So he packed his bags and came here hoping to catch the killer before he struck."
"I see. Well, it looks like you won't be needing me here, Eppes."
"Well that depends, I might call you in again for a bit of help."
Gary grinned. "Well then, if that does happen, you know how to find me". Then he turned around and waved. "See you later Eppes". Stopping at the doorway to face Don, he continued "Don't forget to update me. And…be careful."
"When am I not?"
Gary shook his head in amusement, not even bothering to answer the question. They both knew the truth anyways. Giving Don one last nod of acknowledgement, he walked out of the break room and out the office.
Once Gary was out of eyesight, Don got up and made another cup of coffee. Once it was done, he snagged the finished brew and made another one for good measure. He was going to need all the energy he could get.
It was going to be a long day after all.
A/N: Charlie's suspicious. Don better look out. Also, I hope Charlie and Gary Walker sound like themselves and not like skin walkers who try to pose as them. Next chapter should still be a safe one unless my brain decides to pull a 180 on me. Also, this is set before the events of Hot Shot, so up until this point, Charlie hasn't had any weird dreams.