FIC: In a Mirror, Darkly: Chapter 25/?

[valeriev84]

Title: In a Mirror, Darkly: Chapter 25
Author: Valerie Vancollie (valeriev84 [at] hotmail.com)
Characters: Don, Charlie, Alan, David, Colby, Nikki, Billy Cooper
Rating: 15
Summary: There was a certain irony to the situation, that the brother who was a federal agent had been abducted to be used as leverage against the brother who was an applied mathematics professor at a highly respected college. Don Whump, Charlie Angst!
Betas: aleo_70 & fredbassett
Spoilers: Uncertainty Principle, Vector, Man Hunt, Protest, Dark Matter, Spree, Two Daughters, Brutus, Finders Keepers, One Hour, The Janus List, Breaking Point, Black Swan, When Worlds Collide, The Decoy Effect, Jack of All Trades, Arrow of Time, The Fifth Man, Greatest Hits, Angels and Devils
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Numb3rs characters, items or situations. I only lay claim to the original aspects of the fic.

Part VI: Billy: Hospital

Chapter 25:

Thursday, 18:35
Front Lawn, 372 Kinnard Avenue

Before he'd even fully realized it, Billy was already racing towards his partner's side. Well, former partner, but it was amazing how easily he forgot that whenever he was with Don again. It had been exactly the same when he'd come out to LA to help the younger man track down and capture Williams and McDowd. They'd fallen right back into their old patterns as if the intervening decade had never happened. Okay, almost as if the intervening decade had never happened.

Surprisingly, Don was exactly where Billy would have expected to find him if he'd never heard the cry; on the folded gurney in the back of the ambulance. Only now, instead of lying calmly on the padded surface, Don was twisting about on it, struggling to break free from the grip of the two paramedics who were attempting to hold him down without injuring him any further. They were both talking to him, trying to get him to calm down, but it wasn't working. Either Don was ignoring them or he just wasn't hearing them, entirely caught up in some sort of flashback or trance.

"Donny," Billy called out as he leapt into the back of the ambulance.

There wasn't much room between the gurney and the two paramedics, but Billy managed to squeeze past the woman. He gently but firmly gripped Don's chin and forced him to look in his direction.

"Eppes, snap out of it!"

It took a few moments, but those brown eyes finally focused on him and tense muscles relaxed as Don gradually calmed down.

"Billy?"

"Yeah, I'm right here, you're safe. What the hell happened?"

"I... I don't know."

The cursing of the female paramedic made Billy look at her and he saw her dabbing with some cotton at a fresh trail of blood in the crook of Don's elbow. Realization came to him suddenly and he resisted the urge to close his eyes at the knowledge. There were more important things to take care of now, he could worry about what it all meant later, when Don was in a hospital doped up on long overdue pain medication.

"Did you try to stick him with a needle?" Billy inquired.

"Yes, he's dehydrated and suffering from severe blood loss and therefore in serious need of more fluids," the female paramedic replied.

"Shit," Don cursed, screwing his eyes shut and clenching his fists.

Billy squeezed his good hand slightly in comfort, though he knew it was little use given the circumstances. "He's just been tortured with a knife and you didn't think to warn him before sticking him with a needle? Is there another way to administer the fluids? Couldn't he drink something?"

"Not in the quantities he needs and administering intravenously gets it directly into his blood system."

"It's not... the knife," Don said.

"Huh?" Billy questioned.

"Reaction was not... due to knife... but drugs. Frazer... gave with needles."

The meaning of Don's words sunk in slowly, but Billy's jaw clenched when they did. He'd been so focused on Don's visible wounds and the effects of the two drugs used on him, that he hadn't given much thought to exactly how the drugs had been administered. The desire to kill Frazer slowly and painfully rose within him again and he struggled to shove it aside in order to focus on what was going on around him.

"He really needs the fluids," the paramedic declared.

"Do it," Don stated.

"You sure, Donny?" Billy inquired.

"Yeah... gotta get over... it."

"Not all at once, you don't. And not today."

"Do it."

"You heard the man," Billy said, turning back to the paramedic.

Much as he hated to watch, Billy found himself unable to look away as the paramedic complied after a moment's hesitation. Even prepared for it, Don was unable to prevent the instinctive reaction to recoil when the needle pierced his skin, though this time he didn't fight when the second paramedic held his arm down so he didn't hurt himself any further. Still, despite that, Don's breathing had accelerated noticeably and he was clearly fighting for control against either another flashback or some, by now, instinctive reaction.

"Can you come with us?" the female paramedic inquired. "He seems to respond well to you and it will help if you're here to keep him calm and focused."

"Yeah, if you can wait a minute."

"If you're quick, we can wait."

"I'll be right back," Billy promised, getting back out of the ambulance.

Gray and Richards must have followed him when he'd reacted to Don's cry as they were standing right next to the bus.

"Go," Gray stated without preamble. "He clearly needs you. We'll hold the fort until Sinclair and the crime scene technicians arrive."

Clearly the two of them had seen enough of what had transpired in the ambulance to get the gist of what was going on. The anger and horror on their faces proved that, as did the anger in every line of their body. Someone had messed with one of their own and badly.

"Thanks. Find Officer Stevens, he was the first one in the basement and the one who promised to keep an eye on Keane. His partner is the one who escorted Lawson out of the room and should be keeping an eye on him."

"We've got it, you just take care of Eppes."

Billy didn't need any more incentive than that and climbed back into the ambulance. The second paramedic closed the doors behind him before moving to the front to drive. Seating himself towards the head of the gurney, Billy made sure to stay out of the way of the other EMT as she worked on Don's injuries. He kept an eye on everything she did even as he spoke with Don, doing his best to keep his friend awake and focused. The more he saw of the injuries, though, the harder it became to keep up a litany of soothing nonsense as his rage grew within him. Luckily no serious new wounds were revealed when his pants were cut away to allow for better access to his ankles and to check him for hidden injuries.

The drive to the hospital seemed to take forever and Billy was relieved when the ambulance finally stopped and the back doors were torn open. He tried to remain with the gurney without getting in the way but was eventually stopped by a nurse as his former partner was whisked into the ER. Now it had become a waiting game and he hated those.

/

Thursday, 20:11
ER Waiting Room, UCLA Medical Center

When Alan and Charlie Eppes finally arrived followed closely by someone who appeared to be an agent, Billy nearly sighed in relief. Despite the explosion he knew would most likely take place when Don's father learned about what had happened, and who it was that had tortured Don so badly, it would be better than simply sitting in one of the waiting room chairs. He'd started out pacing the length of the room, but had been asked to stop by one of the nurses who'd noticed he was making the other people nervous.

Billy snorted at the thought. It had probably been a combination of his gun and the blood on his clothes that had scared the other people, but he hadn't wanted to start an argument, so he'd obediently stopped pacing. Don would be so proud of his restraint. He'd made sure to clip his badge to his belt, though, to ensure that no one panicked or made any sort of disturbance that could cause him to be detained when someone came out with more news of Don.

"Mr. Eppes, Charlie," Billy greeted, rising to his feet.

"How is Don?" Charlie demanded, eyes growing wide as he caught sight of the blood stains. "Is that his? Will he be alright? How bad is it? Was he conscious?"

"Don's gonna be fine."

"How do you know that?" Alan questioned. "Have you spoken to one of the doctors already?"

"Yes, someone came out to speak with me about forty minutes ago."

"Yeah, we got caught in traffic," the blond man said. "I'm Special Agent Colby Granger."

"Ah, yes, Don's mentioned you," Billy said.

"What did they say?" Alan demanded, impatiently. "Do I need to speak with anyone and sign anything or approve a procedure?"

"No, that's okay, I've already taken care of it."

"You did?" Charlie inquired.

"Yes, apparently Donny never removed me from his emergency contacts. I still even have medical power of attorney for extreme cases."

"Why is he not yet in a room if he's going to be fine?"

"How much do you know about his injuries?" Billy asked. "Don mentioned something about them sending photos to you."

"Yeah, I got a few."

"We believe there may have been a discrepancy between when they were taken and when Charlie got them," Colby stated. "The last one showed Don's face and arms covered in dried blood, significant bruising around his left eye, and injuries to the fingers of his left hand. Previous photos had also shown some bruising to his chest and burn wounds to his face and chest. He was wearing a new shirt in the final photo, though, so we couldn't see if he had any new injuries to his chest."

"Most of that sounds accurate. There was an additional wound to his arm, which probably happened just before I arrived. The only reason I can think of that they made Don put on the shirt was to hide the bruising on his torso. It appears that he was hit repeatedly on the right side of his chest and he suffered several broken and fractured ribs."

Alan sucked in a sharp breath and Charlie paled alarmingly. Even Colby seemed worried at this, so Billy rushed to continue.

"None of them caused any significant internal damage, though they will be painful enough in and of themselves."

"His lungs are fine?" Alan pressed. "They weren't punctured?"

"No. The final injury was some bruising to his kidneys. Again, painful but not really life threatening. He's also got a moderate concussion, hence the reason they wanted to check with someone else before continuing treatment."

"So what's taking them so long?"

"Mr. Eppes, if you did see a photo of Don, then you know what Frazer did with his knife. In order to prevent infection, they need to ensure that each and every cut is thoroughly cleaned."

"And?" Charlie pushed. "Does it take that long?"

"It does when they need to wait before administering an anesthetic. Apparently Keane drugged Don to make him compliant and the doctors don't want to give him anything else until they know exactly what's already in his system. One of the responding officers gave the paramedics samples which have been rushed to testing."

"So they really did drug Donny?" Alan questioned, paling even further.

"What was this other wound you mentioned?" Charlie asked.

"Huh?" Billy replied evasively.

"You said he had another wound to his arm."

Billy sighed in resignation, secretly glad that only Granger seemed to have caught his little 'samples' slipup. He knew Don wouldn't want his father and brother to know about the pain enhancer if at all possible. Luckily the junior agent seemed to know that as well and was willing to remain silent on the matter for now despite the fact that he seemed to want to know the answer to his question right now.

"Yeah, it's a gash caused by a bullet."

"A gash caused by a-" Alan began, voice high and strangled. "They shot him? They shot Donny? I thought they wanted him alive until Charlie could crack the code!"

"It's just a graze, Mr. Eppes," Billy explained, remembering the way his own heart had lurched when the EMT had identified the most likely cause of the wound and Don had confirmed it.

At the end of the day, a GSW was still a GSW, graze or not. It could easily have been a lot worse, especially if Keane had been willing to kill his captive outright.

"But, why?" Charlie inquired, lost. "What if I'd demanded proof that he was still alive?"

"It wasn't their plan to shoot Don. Donny forced their hand, though, by fighting back. Keane may even have been acting out of instinct. See, somehow your brother managed to seriously injure him with a knife and knock him out."

As he continued to answer the questions Don's family threw at him, Billy noted that Granger had pulled out a notebook and was taking notes. No doubt he'd have to repeat most of what he was saying now later on, but this way Granger could report back to Sinclair with a preliminary report. Inevitably, the conversation came around to the topic he'd been dreading since he'd realized that he'd see the elder Eppes.

"What about Frazer?" Alan asked. "Where is he now? Did you manage to capture him or is he still on the loose?"

"No, Frazer's dead."

"Dead?"

"Yeah, I was forced to shoot him. You needn't worry, he won't hurt Don ever again."

A half laugh from Charlie had Billy wondering about how he was coping with the situation, Don had said he didn't take their mother's illness and death well at all.

"Didn't this whole mess start with the shooting of a Frazer brother?" Charlie stated.

"In some ways, yes."

"What does that mean?" Granger inquired.

"Don said that Keane would have chosen someone else if Frazer had been unavailable to him," Billy explained. "So while Darien Frazer's hatred for Don started when Don was forced to kill George Frazer, Keane could easily have chosen someone else who disliked Don."

"Why would he do that?"

"I don't know, there wasn't a lot of time."

"How come it took you so longer to find Frazer? He's been out of jail for over two weeks now!" Alan accused. "Isn't tracking fugitives what you do for a living? Why did it take you so damn long?"

"I wasn't involved in the hunt at the start, I was busy elsewhere. I came to LA as soon as I heard he was out and that Donny was missing. Tracking Frazer wasn't easy as his movements were unusual for a fugitive, to say the least, but I used everything I remembered about him and his habits and got there as quickly as I could."

"And considering that he beat the rest of us, that was pretty good," Granger said, stepping in.

"You speak as if you recall all of the specifics about this man Frazer and the original hunt for him and his brother."

"That's because I do. Darien and George Frazer were one of the first cases that Don and I worked together. What your son did during the confrontation with them was a critical turning point in our relationship. See, that's when I knew, really knew, that he had my back," Billy stated.

"You didn't trust him before?" Alan demanded harshly.

"Mr. Eppes, you have to understand, Fugitive Recovery is tough, it's one of the toughest assignments within the Bureau. A lot of agents don't make it there, they just aren't cut out for it. So, yeah, I was more than a little wary at getting assigned a partner all but fresh out of the Academy who'd been a damn baseball player before joining the FBI."

"Donny's good at what he does."

"No, he's damn good at it. Best damn partner I ever had, and I've had a lot, believe you me."

"I hate to interrupt, Alan," Granger broke in, "but I'm going to have to take Agent Cooper's statement and I think it would be better if I do so sooner rather than later. I just got a text from David saying they've got someone at the scene whom they're not sure is a suspect or a victim."

"How can they not know- No, never mind, I'm not sure I want to know," Alan stated. "Just tell me one thing, Cooper."

"Yes?"

"How badly was Donny bleeding for you to get all of that blood on your clothes?"

Chapter 26