The Hooker
Title: "The Hooker"
Characters: Charlie/Colby, Don, Edgerton, Liz, David, Nikki
Word count: 1,369.
Rating: PG-13.
Spoilers: The Janus List (Season 3), Trust Metric (season 4), Blowback (season 5)
Warnings: None (Do I really need to precise that a Charlie/Colby story is a slash?). Repost from ff.net
Summary: A fight happened when Charlie discovers that Colby has cheated on him with a hooker.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Numb3rs.
Beta: The wonderful paranoid_woman
Written for: My dear paranoid_woman this is for you hun ! That was a week where you were down so I decided to write this to you and try to cheer you up! And because both of us hate this hooker !!! Dedicated to you my friend ! (And that was also for your birthday)
Author's note: First Numb3rs fic (and second fic) Reviews are hoped, but no flames please... I already have a shitty week-end!
THE HOOKER
“A HOOKER?” Charlie yelled at Colby. “A HOOKER! You gotta be kidding me… You cheated on me with a hooker? A.k.a. a prostitute… That’s so pathetic…”
“It’s not what you think, baby…” Ok perhaps it was not the good thing to say…
“Oh, great! It’s not what I think… So would you mind explaining it to me?” Charlie was getting angry.
“Umm… Well… You know, it was just after our last fight… When we were fighting about you, coming out to your father and to Don…” Colby was trying to make Charlie feel guilty to justify his actions. “And you were so focused on having your clearance back. You were avoiding me. Lynn was there. She kissed me and one thing led to another…”
“Oh, yeah… Lynn… You’re so close to her… You call her by her first name… You are so… intimate now… That’s so cute!” He said sarcastically. “I hope you don’t mind if I just call her ‘the slut’ or ‘the hooker’… By the way, you’re the one who doesn’t want to come out of the closet… You’re really too afraid of what Don could do to you, or what David would think if he knew that you lied to him again, or how everyone at the Bureau would look at you… ‘Colby, the fag’. So, it would be better for your virility to sleep with a hooker than screwing the math guy.”
Sometimes words are just meant to hurt.
“Charlie, look… It was just a one-night-stand. It means nothing to me. It was just physical.” Tears were threatening to fell from Colby’s eyes.
“Yeah? Wonderful! You threw away a one-year relationship for a one-night-stand with a whore… What am I supposed to do? Say ‘thanks’? You should better think with your little jock’s brain more than with your dick. You screwed her. That’s all. I hope for you it was worth it… Now if you excuse me, I will go to sleep at my house or perhaps go to a bar and find my own hooker. Or who knows… Just another someone else…” And Charlie stormed out of their room.
“Charlie! Wait!” Colby yelled, running after his boyfriend and grabbing his arm.
Charlie hissed, “Don’t. Touch. Me. And if you want a quick fuck tonight, Liz told me last week that a certain Kelly Rand’s manager was pinning for you. Perhaps old ladies are also your stuff. Eww… Nasty!” Then he was gone.
Colby let him slide to the floor and broke down in tears. ‘Yeah, I had screwed everything up…’
Hoping to finish the evening drunk and to forget about everything, Colby went to his favorite bar. He just didn’t realize that it wasn’t his favorite bar, but their… When he entered the place, the first thing he saw was his Charlie shamelessly flirting with the very (in?)famous super agent Edgerton… They were having a drink and seemed to be really close. Too close for Colby’s taste. He left the bar feeling defeated.
Two weeks later, the team was stuck in a very hard case involving a serial rapist and everyone was irritated. No one noticed the particularly bad mood of a certain green-eyed agent. Colby was snapping at everyone, but they didn’t take offence. Anyways, everyone was angry.
When they eventually asked Charlie to help them on the case, they barely noticed that the temperature in the office had suddenly dropped ten degrees. That finally hit them when Charlie chuckled wryly when Colby made a question and lowered his head in shame at the mocking sound. After that, Charlie and Colby tried to avoid each other like plague. The team didn’t understand them because they had become friends after Charlie had helped to save Colby’s life during the Janus list fiasco. Besides, they had been very close to each other since the Bonnie Parks case. Now, the team didn’t have time to ask a lot of questions about it because of the serial rapist.
Two days after Charlie had started working on the case, Colby volunteered to go on the field just to avoid his ex-boyfriend. The investigation had progressed and they had a serious lead about where the rapist was, thanks to Charlie and one of his so complicated math equations. But every time they were in the same room, Charlie looked pissed off and Colby had lost-puppy-dog eyes. Everyone was now trying to wonder what had happened between the two friends, but they had no clue.
At day three, Colby barely showed himself at the FBI headquarters and they had finally located their suspect. Charlie knew that the suspect had been apprehended but he had also heard that Colby had been stabbed in the chest. The news had almost caused him a heart attack, but Don had called him from the hospital to say that the injury was superficial and Colby would be released very soon with some painkillers.
Charlie felt like very heavy weight had been removed from his chest. He couldn’t help but think that Colby may have been distracted by their fight and not focused on the operation. He realized that life was too short and that perhaps he could forgive his lover, but everything would depend on his boyfriend’s actions.
Four hours later, they were celebrating the case’s enclosure in a bar when Don arrived with Colby after leaving the hospital. Nikki, Liz and David were already there. Colby noticed that Charlie was whispering in the ear of… Ian Edgerton again… After this awful day, Colby was completely getting mad. He had almost died today and Charlie acted like he didn’t even exist, like he wasn’t here, like there was just Ian at the table. Blood ran cold in his veins. He turned to leave, then suddenly jumped on Charlie and kissed him senseless as if they were alone. Just as if his boss wasn’t looking at him. Only when he broke the kiss he spoke.
“Look, Charlie. I know I made a lot of mistakes. I know I hurt you when I cheated on you. That was the stupidest thing I have ever done. And now your brother will probably want to kill me because he knows first, that I love you and second, that I made you miserable. But I don’t care. Like I said, I love you and I will make everything I can until you are able to forgive me. I sincerely hope you can do that… I don’t want to loose you, baby… I love you too much… Please forgive me.” He was begging, almost crying.
Don was looking at them totally aghast because he had never thought that his baby brother could have been gay. So he thought that it was the effect of the painkillers given to Colby by the doctor; that Colby wasn’t thinking clearly. Nikki was trying to avoid them because she was new and didn’t want to be brought into a possible fight. Liz and David were trying not to laugh because the face of Don was priceless.
Colby was about to break down because Charlie wasn’t saying anything. Accepting his silence as a final decision, he spun on his feet to leave the room muttering, “I hope that one day you will be able to forgive me…” but he felt a hand grabbing his arm.
Then Charlie shouted, “Colby, wait! I forgive you! It’s okay! I don’t want to lose you either! I swear my heart stopped when I heard that you’d been stabbed… And I love you too… Bring me home now, honey…” Both had tears in their eyes just as everyone at the table.
They left the bar with a last look and they waved at everyone. When Colby looked back, Edgerton winked at Charlie like an accomplice, and Charlie answered by mouthing a silent “Thank you”
Just before they left, they heard Don squeal, “But Charlie! You’re gay?”
Charlie yelled to his brother, “Thanks Colombo! You really should apply for the F.B.I.!” and everyone burst out laughing when they got to the door.
Colby promised to do everything to rebound with Charlie, his Whiz kid, which meant a lot of make-up sex because they had a lot of time to catch…