A/N - A "what if?" based on the Episode 2.21 "Rampage"
"Who's hit?! Who's down?!"
The clamor of voices began to rise as the gunfire ceased, the smell of sulfur still thick in the air. Don vocally checked in with everyone on the floor, trying to gauge injuries and, god-forbid, casualties. Glass began crunching as people made their way out of the bullpen to safety, thankful that the shootout hadn't been worse.
Don's first thought after the bullets stopped flying was that of his younger brother. The shock of the bullets slamming into the whiteboard inches from Charlie's head would not be leaving his brain anytime soon.
He glanced over from his position in his defensive stance, gun still drawn on the perp, to see Charlie picking his way out of the war room, clutching his laptop tightly to his chest. The veteran agent's own chest tightened in anxiety as he put his service weapon away and hurried over to his brother.
"Hey you ok? Let me see," Don ordered as he tried to pry Charlie's laptop away from his body to see if his brother had been hurt in any way.
"I'm ok!" Charlie blurted out in response to Don trying to pull the laptop back to check him over. He snatched the computer back and hugged it closer to himself, trying to make himself appear as a smaller target.
The veteran agent could see that his younger brother was clearly freaked out, eyes darting around the room, his whole body shaking causing glass shards to fall from Charlie's unruly curly hair. His cursory glance didn't register any blood, so Don left his brother in his spot for the moment while he went to check the others in the bullpen.
Charlie for his part stood rooted as the others began evacuating the area. David was escorting the medics that were treating the shooter out while Megan and Colby were helping to clear agents who had slight injuries and could walk out.
As the adrenaline began to wear off, white-hot burning pain exploded in Charlie's body, taking his breath away. His laptop began to feel heavy, falling away and clattering to the ground. The mathematician glanced down to see a red stain growing on his left flank, his face becoming devoid of all color as his brain began to register the problem.
"D..Don…..he..help," Charlie stuttered aloud, his amber brown eyes seeking out and finding his brother's whiskey colored ones as his knees buckled underneath him, his arms clutched around his midsection.
"Charlie? What the hell?! Charlie!!!" Don shouted, his voice shaking, sprinting to his brother as Charlie collapsed where he stood, his body crumpling to the ground.
Don skidded to a stop, dropping to his knees at his younger brother's side. He didn't hesitate as he ripped the dress shirt off himself, buttons flying in every direction. The senior agent wadded the cloth up and pressed it as hard as he dared to the growing red stain covering Charlie's torso, eliciting a blood-curdling scream from the prone mathematician.
"D..Do…Don…" Charlie's pained voice cut through Don's heart like a knife as his brother flailed a blood-soaked hand out, finding Don's wrist and grabbing it in a tight hold.
"Hang on buddy, help is on the way," Don said as soothing as he could, trying to be reassuring but failing miserably as his little brother screamed again, weaker but still gut-wrenching all the same. Don was scared, make that terrified, of losing another important person in his life. Charlie was his baby brother and his responsibility to keep safe. The guilt of the shooting was starting to build within his heart.
The young mathematician was writhing in agony on the floor, trying to yank himself away from the blinding pain Don was unintentionally inflicting by trying to stem the flow of blood. For his part, the elder brother was disconcerted by the amount of blood soaking into his shirt, pooling around his hands on the cloth. How in the hell do I explain this to dad?
"Medics are on the way up!" Megan exclaimed as she shoved Charlie's laptop away and kneeled opposite of Don. The analyst stripped her jacket off, folding it before she handed it to Don to add to the clothing standing between life or death for Charlie.
Don silently thanked his teammate with his eyes as he took the folded jacket and pushed it on top of his blood soaked shirt. Charlie whimpered when Don pushed in on the wound again, his grip on Don's wrist loosening as his hand went limp.
"Come on, easy buddy easy! I got you kid!" Don shouted, a quiver in his voice.
"Charlie! Come on you have to stay with us!" Megan yelled, placing a hand on the prone man's cheek.
Charlie's eyes found Megan's for a moment, sliding lazily to his brother's before they rolled to the back of his head and closed.
"No, you can't go to sleep! Hey Charlie! Eyes open!" Done voice went up an octave as Charlie passed out on them.
Don had not felt this desperate or this fearful in a long time. Seeing his kid brother laying so still was unnatural for the normally animated younger Epps' brother.
The medics pushed their way over, sending a little relief through Don. That feeling was short lived since it was that moment the mathematician took one last, shuddered breath before stopping altogether.