Baseball Fever, Part 75: Charlie listens to instructions and Don instructs his listeners
Title: Baseball Fever (75/?)
Summary of the story (only updated through chap 42)
Full Chapter List (up to date)
Fandom: NUMB3RS
Pairing/characters: Don Eppes/Colby Granger, Don Eppes/Charlie Eppes, Don Eppes/OMCs
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Charlie discovers some unexpected things about his sexy older brother.
Part 75: Charlie listens to instructions and Don instructs his listeners
Charlie spends the day in the FBI breakroom.
Word Count: 1913
Notes/Warnings: (Spoilers) Incest, abusive relationship, suicidal thoughts
Previously in "Baseball Fever": Still reeling from being dumped by his abusive boyfriend Colby, Don gets himself injured by a former sex partner. Charlie rescues Don and nurses him back to health. After Don is recovered, they allow their mutual attraction to flare again, an attraction that Charlie has struggled with all his life but that Don only recently discovered at a hotel getaway. They agree that there is no future in a romantic relationship between them. Charlie decides that he needs to find Don a boyfriend, and chooses a family friend, Alexei. Don and Alexei begin dating, though Don is still in the closet. They date for almost six months.
Don gets a jolt when he receives a letter from his landlord which reminds him that he used to pay for his rent with sex. Though Alexei is supportive of Don getting help, all of Don's deep hatred for himself comes roaring back and he is certain he can never have a healthy, normal relationship. He breaks up with Alexei and goes home to drown his sorrows. There he discovers that Charlie has had stomach problems ever since Don got together with Alexei. Don makes a deal with Charlie for him to eat, but Charlie ends up vomiting. Don takes care of Charlie and ends things on a better note with Alexei. Don vows to move back home and take care of Charlie until he's well. Don learns what a challenge that's going to be because Charlie's not only been not eating, but also walking to excess. Charlie gives Don a late-night blowjob.
On Monday morning, Don takes Charlie to work and sets him up in a private breakroom.
Part 75: Charlie listens to instructions and Don instructs his listeners --
Charlie stared at a packet of nuts and tried to remember where he was. He was lying on a couch in a room, but it didn't look like a home. Like an office breakroom? Don had brought him here…
The FBI secondary breakroom! Smiling at his memory returning, Charlie reached out for the packet of nuts. Don had said he'd check to see if Charlie had eaten anything, so Charlie opened and mechanically ate the nuts then drank some water. Somehow it was required to eat for Don to come back, and Charlie wanted Don to come back.
He looked at the clock on the wall, but he didn't know when they'd arrived, so he didn't know how long he'd slept. Had Don come back while he was asleep to check on him and he'd missed him?
Agitated at the idea that he'd slept through Don's visit, Charlie sat up and looked around. There wasn't a lot to see, it was a room designed for tired agents to catch some quick sleep during long cases. There were several comfortable looking chairs, a small coffee table, a mini-fridge, a water cooler, and this couch. The room had two doors, one marked Bathroom and one marked Exit. Charlie contemplated the Exit door for a moment then slowly got up and went to the bathroom.
He used the bathroom and returned to the couch, shaky from the effort. He lay back down on the couch and just closed his eyes for a minute.
Two hours and fourteen minutes later Charlie opened his eyes. The nut package had been thrown away. Don had been here and he'd missed him! Grumbling, Charlie sat up. There was a note on the table in Don's handwriting.
Talked to Dr. Ray. We have appointment to see him tomorrow. For now, please drink yogurt in fridge.
There wasn't a time on the note, so Don could have just left or it could have been two hours ago. He needed to have drunk the yogurt before Don got back! Charlie quickly stood up from the couch - then regretted it as the room swirled around him. He collapsed back on the couch, breathing hard.
He waited until the room settled, then tried again. The room stayed steady, but he wasn't sure he could take the steps required for him to reach the mini-fridge. He had apparently used up all his energy earlier to get to the bathroom. What was the ratio of nut calories to usable energy?
Smiling that a math question had occurred to him - though he wasn't able to solve it yet, Charlie decided it was a waste of his little energy to worry about verticality. He got on hands and knees and crawled across the floor to the fridge. Opening the door, he found the 6-pack of drinkable yogurts that Don had gotten Saturday. He'd never liked the taste but he had his instructions. Feeling virtuous, he took out two bottles. He sat on the floor and drank one after another. He had to sit for a minute to make sure the yogurt didn't come right back up. To calm his stomach, he pictured Don returning, Don smiling at him, Don touching his cheek. When it looked like the yogurt would stay down, Charlie crawled back to the couch. He placed the two empty yogurt bottles next to the note, like trophies.
He climbed back up onto the couch and waited for Don to return - with his eyes closed.
When Charlie opened his eyes again, the yogurt bottles were gone. He groaned in frustration that he'd missed Don again. He sat up to see if Don had left him another note. To the earlier note was added the words, Good job, buddy! I'll bring lunch for us next time.
Charlie grumbled loudly and closed his eyes again. This time, though, he wasn't able to drop off to sleep. He lay on the couch and watched the clock. His brain sluggishly tried to start analyzing time and motion. It didn't get very far, but it was nice to feel like his brain was still there somewhere. He lay on his back and counted squares in the ceiling.
By one o'clock, he couldn't stand to wait any more. Don must have gotten caught up in a case and forgotten lunch. Charlie pushed aside the spurt of annoyance that Don would choose his job over him. Don's dedication to helping people was one of the many reasons that Charlie loved him.
Charlie stood up slowly and the room stayed where it should be. He walked over to the Exit door and opened it. So far, so good.
He stepped out into the hall and tried to remember where this breakroom was in relation to Don's desk.
"Dr. Eppes! Wait!"
He blinked and looked into the office across the hall. There was a young woman that he couldn't remember if he'd been introduced to before.
"Um, hi?" he said as she got up from her desk and hurried towards him.
"Hi! I'm Agent McDonald. Tammy. I don't know if you remember me."
Charlie shook his head. "Hi. I was just…" He started to edge down the hallway.
She shifted to block him with an apologetic smile. "Agent Eppes gave me very specific instructions. I'm not to let you leave the breakroom. If you show up, I'm to give you… Hang on." She held up her hand and backed into her office, keeping her eyes on him. "Wait a sec."
Charlie watched her, hoping it was another note from Don, but she came back with a tablet.
Tammy said, "I spent the morning loading videos on it. 'Restful' videos, he said. I tried to put a variety of things on there that were restful, but one man's restful is another man's stimulating, so who's to say? Some people find nature shows restful but I tend to start thinking about climate change and deforestation and-" She winced. "Sorry, Agent Eppes says I'm not really supposed to talk to you. Something about 'mental rest' and here I am chatting away about-" She grimaced and tried again. "There's baseball, sailing, classical music concerts, painting, dogs, even one of just a fireplace burning. Let me know if you have any technical issues. I'll be right across the hall all day. All the next two weeks, in fact."
Charlie took the tablet and looked at it. He then gave her a half-smile. "Don assigned you to be my jailor?"
"I, uh, well…"
He smiled fully and shook his head. "It's okay. Some other day I'd love to talk about mathematical models for climate change, but not today."
"No," she agreed, looking chagrined. "And I'm to tell you that if Don gets called away for lunch, there's a sandwich and some juice in the fridge. And that you should eat it all."
"Did he get called away?"
She shrugged. "Looks like it. He's been here a bunch of times this morning, but not for a few hours."
Charlie nodded and, with a sigh, turned back towards the breakroom aka his jail cell. Tammy gave him a cheerful wave. Charlie saw there was a sign on the door that said, 'The Breakroom is unavailable until further notice. Sorry for the inconvenience.'
That's what Charlie was, an inconvenience.
His shoulders hunched, Charlie returned to the breakroom and shut the door behind him. He set the tablet on the couch and checked out the mini-fridge. Indeed, it now had a ham and cheese sandwich and orange juice that hadn't been there earlier. He got out the sandwich and juice and set them down on the table. He turned on the tablet and scrolled through the videos. Selecting a replay of the 1993 World Series Game 4 between the Blue Jays and Phillies, he started the video and opened his sandwich. He wasn't sure that Tammy realized that it was the World Series game known for most runs and hits, so a lot of action, but it was a game Charlie knew well, so he supposed it was restful after all.
Some time later, he'd finished the sandwich and juice and even some potato chips that had Don had left this morning. The game was still going on, so he set the tablet up sideways and lay down to watch the remainder. Whenever he watched baseball, he pictured Don in his uniform, and his mind would drift off pleasantly. Since he was a teenager, he'd watched most baseball games with a full-on erection. This time was no different, and he found his body trying to stir. He tried to calm himself, knowing he wasn't ready for that yet. Finally, the effort of talking, eating, and becoming aroused was too much and even a lively baseball game couldn't keep him awake.
Don sat in the FBI surveillance van, grumbling to himself.
David looked over. "You see something?"
Don shook his head. "Just didn't plan on spending the afternoon watching Nikki sit on a bench and drink yet more coffee and watching Vincente run laps around the park."
"Mo should show up soon," David said. "All the intel says he will."
"I know…" Don stared at the monitors. They were out here to catch a very dangerous man and they had solid intel that the man would show up at the park to meet someone today. Normally Don wouldn't mind hanging out in the van and watching Vincente in his little running shorts and tight tank top. Vincente was a very attractive man. He was even more pleasant to watch, in Don's mind, because Vincente was happily married and not about to be interested in Don. Usually, Don could just appreciate Vicente's form and wait for their quarry to show. Not today, though.
"Tammy will take care of him," Liz said from Don's other side.
"Take care of…?" David started, then grimaced. "Right. Yes, I forgot about… Tammy will take care of Charlie."
Don stopped himself from saying, I want to be the one to take care of him. Instead he said, "I know. It's just… My dad had been kinda shielding me from how bad it was. I didn't really know until it was my turn to be in charge."
Don couldn't tell them the truth, of course, and it was so much worse. He didn't know how bad Charlie had gotten until he was forced to look. He would have avoided Charlie for longer, if his dad hadn't gone on a trip. Maybe avoided him until it was too late, until there was no coming back from the state he'd put himself in.
No. And that was the worst part. Charlie hadn't put himself in that state.
Don had.
Charlie's stomach pain was all due to Don's selfish desire to have a normal relationship with Alexei. He'd tried, and it had been really nice, but it had been a sham. Thank God he woke up from that before Charlie was too far gone.
Don knew that he wasn't a man who could have a normal relationship. He was too fucked up. But that didn't mean Charlie had to suffer for it.
"There's Mo!" Liz said.
Don felt the burst of adrenaline that always came when a criminal was spotted, and his brain kicked into high gear to direct his team.
And Don was able to focus on his job for a while.