Fic: Choices -Prologue (Numb3rs, Charlie Eppes / Colby Granger)
Title: Choices (Prologue)
Fandom: Numb3rs
Pair: Charlie Eppes / Colby Granger
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc.
Feedback: Always Welcome
NUMB3RS Main List
Contains my response to Chymoms Line Challenge, using lines:
Don: I never wanted this life for you.
Charlie: That makes two of us.
Other Line Challenge fic can be found under this tag.
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“Did I ever tell you I always wanted a little baby girl?”
Charlie didn’t need to turn around. He picked Helen up from her crib and set her
against his chest. “Mom…. You used to say you would like to switch me and Don for
one quiet little girl.”
“I only said that when you were naughty.” Misty figure walked next to Charlie.
“We were nice boys! Well…. I was.”
“Most of the time…..” Margaret chuckled. “She’s like a miniature of you.”
“Except the nose.”
“Thank god….”
“Mom.”
“Honey, it’s a very nice nose, but not on a girl.”
“Okay.”
“Don`t forget how I could always see throught you." She sighed. "You know….I never
wanted this life for you. Thinking what you should have done differently. You did
what you could and the end was the same anyway. And I always knew why acted
that way because I know you.”
“It’s just…. I don’t know. After getting one of my own it’s hard to think that I’m
a dad and I have my own dad. And you’re not here. I wasn’t there for you and you’re
not here to see her.”
“Charlie, you did what you could, and you can think about it till you’re old and grey,
but it wont change anything. I missed you, but I never blamed you. And I still don’t.
Focus on her and let the past go.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Go ahead.” Margaret tilted her head to the side. In the half dark nursery she
seemed to glow pale light.
“Is dad as well as he says he is?”
“Honey, grief doesn’t go away, just because he doesn’t show it. You father and I
had a good life together. When go home alone and close the door behind you, it’s
always there. It just changes over time.”
“You… you’re keeping an eye on him, aren’t you?”
“I’m keeping an eye on all of you. And you are keeping an eye on each other. You
have no idea how important that is.”
“Do you miss us?”
“Of course I do. And I miss the way things were.”
Charlie sniffed. “That makes two of us.”
Helen demanded attention and tried to grasp the bottle from Charlie’s hand. He
placed the head to her mouth and she started sucking her milk calmly.
“I means a lot to your father that he got to see her.”
“I just wish you were here.”
“I’m here all the time. Just because you don’t see me doesn’t mean I don’t
see you.”
Charlie pulled Helen closer and let single tear roll down his cheek.
“I miss you.”
“I miss you too.”
When Charlie lifted his eyes from the baby, the ghostly figure was gone.
TBC