Ghost Woman Chapters 15
Pairing/Characters: Don/OFC-Elle, Megan, Colby, Larry, Amita
Rating: Pg-13~Don Angst + H/C
Summary: Larry gives Don some advice and Elle calls Don for help.
Spoilers: None really but I do try to incorporate canon as much as possible
Notes/Warnings: Thanks to sororcula for betaing. Any other boo boos are mine!!!
Disclaimer: I do not own Numb3rs. I just like to play with them.
Colby, did you get that forensic report yet?" Don barked out. His eyes were cold.
"No, Don. Uh, I haven't heard from the coroner's office."
"Well, get on the phone and tell them to stop fooling around. I want that report now," Don snapped at Colby. "I am going to see Charlie at CalSci and see if his equation has turned up anything."
Don stalked out of the office.
Colby, puzzled, asked Megan, "What was that all about?"
Shaking her head, Megan replied, "Not sure, but I have an idea."
Colby shrugged and went back to his desk to call the coroner.
~-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~
Don walked into Charlie's office and found Larry staring at the blackboard.
"Hey, Larry. Have you seen my brother?"
Larry turned slowly to look at Don, his hands tapping his chin. "Ah, Don. He said he would be right back. He went to check his mailbox."
Suppressing a sigh, Don said, "Okay. How are you two progressing on the equation?"
Larry mused, "What one may call progression, others may call a stumbling block."
Don's eyebrows knitted together. "What?"
"What Larry means to say is that they found a corrupt set in the data and they are reworking the numbers."
Both men looked up to see Amita standing at the door. "Hi Don, Larry. Charlie's not here?" she said with a small smile.
Larry answered, "No, he said he would be right back."
She tilted her head and bit her lip. "Okay, well, tell him I stopped by and I'll talk to him later." She waved goodbye and left the office.
Don said to no one in particular, "I see that dance hasn't gone anywhere."
Larry nodded. "I don't think either of them knows who should lead or if they are dancing the foxtrot or salsa."
Don shook his head at his brother's love life, or lack thereof. At least Charlie seemed to still have a chance with Amita, since she had stayed in California and at CalSci.
"Your brother mentioned that your own dance with the baker has hit a sour note," Larry stated, looking kindly at Don.
Don, annoyed, muttered, "Great, my brother's talking about my love life."
Larry shook his head. "No, no, it wasn't so much talking as I mentioned that I enjoyed the cookies he picked up from the bakery and he said that you two were no longer together."
Don, unable to keep a trace of anger out of his voice, replied, "Yeah, well, things don't always go as planned."
"Don, if I may offer a piece of advice." He tapped his jaw again. "They say a good baker knows when to let the dough rise and when it needs to be worked on. You just have decide on which one you need to do."
Don blinked twice before responding to Larry's comment, saying, "Yeah, uh, thanks, Larry. Can you just tell Charlie I stopped by?"
"With pleasure," Larry replied as his eyes went back to looking at the blackboard.
~_____________________________________________________________________________~
Later on that evening, Don was staring at the empty contents in the fridge and noticed that all that was in there was the food that Elisabeth had kept there, a bag of shriveled up apples, one of her organic yogurts and the last bottle of his favorite beer. He grabbed the beer out of the fridge and decided to order takeout when his cell phone rang. He growled, "Eppes." On the other end he heard a voice struggling to talk.
"Fed. Please..."
"Elisabeth?"
"It's..."
"What's wrong? Can you hear me? Elisabeth?"
She managed to say one last thing, ".... Help," before the line went dead. Dropping the takeout menu, Don grabbed his keys, badge and gun and ran out to his car. He drove as fast as he could over to her place.
He ran to the door and saw the door wide open. One of the neighbors opened their door and looked curiously about. Don saw the woman and ordered her, "Call the police, go back inside and lock the door." She nodded at him as he flashed his badge. He took out his gun and silently walked into the apartment. He checked the kitchen first; it was empty. He slowly walked into the living room of the apartment in the room. Don was met with the sight of two men on the floor. A few feet away he saw Elisabeth lying on the floor, unconscious and bleeding, with a cell phone clutched in her hand.
"Elisabeth?" He immediately went to her side, checking her pulse when he heard a voice mumble, "Is that you, Eppes?"
Don turned his head towards the voice and saw the man he knew to be Mario from Elisabeth's old team badly beaten and lying on the floor.
"Mario, what happened here?"
Before he could answer, Don heard someone yell, "Police."
He put his hands in the air and said, "In here. I'm Special Agent Don Eppes."
After the police cleared him, they began to ask what had happened. Don told them what little he knew and that Elisabeth was a friend of his and had called him before passing out. He handed one of the officers his card and told them if they needed anything else to call him but he wanted to check on his friend. He watched the medics come in and begin to assess the wounded. He walked slowly over to the one that was checking Elisabeth when the medics recognized Don and said, "Agent Eppes?"
"Yeah, hi, Carson." Don nodded in his direction while he watched them load her on the gurney. "Mind if I ride along?"
"You know the vic?" Carson replied.
"Yeah, you could say that," he replied, feeling numb.
The medic, not missing the look on Don's face, said, "Yeah, she's stable so you can ride with us."
Don climbed into the ambulance, sitting in silence while Carson kept an eye on his charge. At the hospital Don watched them take
Elisabeth away into an exam room. Not even a minute later the stretcher with Mario was wheeled in. He flashed his badge at the physician and told him that he would like to speak with Mario when they were done attending to his wounds.
He waited in the waiting room. His mind kept whirling with thoughts. What the hell happened? Why was Mario at her apartment? Who the hell were those two other guys?
A nurse in green scrubs came in and said, "Excuse me, Agent Eppes?"
Don turned. "Yes."
"You can speak to Mr. Thompson now."
"Thompson?"
"Yes, Matthew Thompson. He said that you call him Mario."
"Oh yes, thanks. Excuse me, nurse, any word on Elisabeth Grier?"
"No sir, they are still examining her. I'll have someone keep you posted."
He nodded and went over to talk to Matthew Thompson.
Don walked into the room where the man he knew to be called Mario was. His shirt was off and he had a bandage over his right shoulder. He had a large bruise forming on his left temple and a laceration on his head to match.
"Eppes," Mario said. "Been a while."
"You could say that."
The two stared at each other in stony silence till Mario spoke first. "I guess you want to know what happened, huh?"
Don nodded.
Mario fiddled with a bandage on his hand. "Any word on Elle?"
"I don't know her status. The nurse said she'd let me know."
Mario muttered to himself, "That woman has saved my life again. Now I really owe her." He nodded and sighed back into the pillow. "Sorry about her breaking up with you. Told her it was damn foolish."
Don said nothing, not dropping his stone mask once. "She called me for help; when I got there the two of you were laying in your blood with two other men."
"Both of them dead?" he said as he licked his lips.
"Yeah."
"Good." His eyes flickered in anger.
Annoyed for Mario to get on with the story, he said, "Who the hell were they?"
"One of them was the Director and the other was a goon." He saw the puzzled look on Don's face. "I guess I should start from the beginning. The man called the Director was our old boss." Seeing the surprised look on Don's face he continued, "I guess she didn't tell you." He shook his head. "So smart but yet so foolish. I quit working for them about two weeks ago and Elle was letting me crash till I could save up some cash for a place of my own. The Director I guess decided he didn't like me and Elle quitting and came over to show us the 'error of our ways,' if you get what I mean. Can you hand me that cup? I think I need some water."
Don quickly handed it to Mario, waiting while he took a long sip of water. He cleared his throat and began talking again. "Anyway, Elle was out jogging when the Director and that other guy showed up and started working me over. I guess I blacked out under their tender care for a bit, but when I came to I saw Elle going toe to toe with the Director." He said almost wistfully, "God, I love watching that woman work."
The nurse came in before Don could ask Mario any further questions. "Excuse me, Agent Eppes, but I have some information on Ms. Grier."
Don exchanged apprehensive looks with Mario before turning his attention to the nurse.
"She suffered a bruised lung, two cracked ribs, and some broken fingers."
Don walked over to the nurse. "Can I see her?"
The nurse, not missing the undertones of concern that Don had for the woman, said, "She's being moved to a room. The doctor prescribed a sedative to keep her comfortable. She's not awake at this time." Seeing the concern on Don's face, she added, "You can sit with her in the exam room till we move her upstairs."
Don got up to follow the nurse out when Mario said, "Do you know why she broke up with you?"
Don stopped and just stared at the injured man.
"No? I didn't think so. She broke up with you 'cause she was afraid."
Don looked skeptically at him. "Afraid? Afraid of what?"
"Yeah, afraid of so many things. Afraid of her feelings for you, afraid of where that was leading her." Mario looked Don straight in the eyes. "Eppes, she also was afraid of hurting you."
"Hurting me?" Shaking his head, he tried to digest what Mario had said.
"You're a lucky man, Eppes, 'cause I know for a fact that she's in love with you. She would never admit it, but it's true. You're just what she needs and I hope you can swallow your pride and try to work things out with her."
Tersely he answered, "Yeah, well, I think we are way past getting back together."
Mario snorted, "Yeah, don't be too sure." Not able to hold Don's look any longer, he said finally, "If I had any chance with her I wouldn't have told you that stuff, but I don't. If she would let me love her I would, but she loves you, Eppes, and I'm damn jealous."
Don walked out of the room, glancing one more time at a broken, pained man.
He walked into the exam room and saw that she was indeed asleep. She had a tube in her nose and an IV hooked up into her left arm.
Her left hand was bandaged and she had a bandage on her head. He touched the side of her face and leaned over to kiss her forehead.
He pulled out the chair next to the bed and laid his hand gently on top of hers.
An hour or so had passed when the doctor came in to check on his patient.
Don had fallen asleep in the chair. His eyes opened immediately when the doctor came in.
The doctor looked down at her chart and turned towards him. "I'm Doctor Morris. Are you family?"
He rubbed the remnants of sleep off his face and replied, "No, she doesn't have any."
Dr. Morris glanced at the gun and badge that Don wore and asked, "You the agent in charge of this case?"
"Um, yeah, sure."
The doctor glanced back at Don again but decided to go on speaking. "We'll be moving her to a room shortly."
Don looked at Elisabeth as he asked the doctor, "Is she going to be alright?"
"We are admitting her for observation for her lung for a day or so. We want to make sure that lung doesn't give her any problems, but I don't anticipate that it will. Is there anyone who can stay with her when she's released? She's going to be in a lot of pain for awhile and she is going to need help with mobility."
"Um, yeah. I'm a friend of hers. She’ll probably stay with me."
The doctor nodded. "Okay, well you need to go home and get some rest. You'll be no good to her if you aren't well yourself. Can you stop by the nurses station to help them with her personal information before you leave?"
"Yeah, sure. I'll do that." After speaking to Admissions he started to go out to the parking lot and realized that he didn't have his car here. Swearing to himself, he took out his cell phone.
"Hi, Dad. Sorry to call you at this late hour, but can you give me a ride from the hospital? Dad, calm down. I'm fine and no one on the team is hurt either. My car? I left it at Elisabeth's. No, we did not patch things up. Who's hurt? That's a long story, but it's Elisabeth. Dad, I really don't want to discuss it over the phone. Can you just come and get me? Okay, well, they are going to admit her, so I will be up in her room. It's 526. I'll see you when you get here. Okay, see you in twenty."
~___________________________________________________________________________~
Alan found his son sitting beside a very banged up looking Elisabeth. With concern in his voice, he said, "Donnie?"
His voice was weary when he spoke. "Hey, Dad. Thanks for coming to get me."
"Sure, anytime. Is she going to be alright?"
"Yeah."
Alan touched Don's shoulder. "You wanna talk about it?"
"No, not really. I'm just..."
"I know, Don. She's in good hands here. I'm sure once she's better, you two can work things out."
"I don't know, Dad."
"You wouldn't be looking at her like that if you didn't want to at least try. Come on, I'll take you back to the house. We can go get your car in the morning after breakfast." He placed a hand on Don's shoulder and led him down to the elevators.
Rating: Pg-13~Don Angst + H/C
Summary: Larry gives Don some advice and Elle calls Don for help.
Spoilers: None really but I do try to incorporate canon as much as possible
Notes/Warnings: Thanks to sororcula for betaing. Any other boo boos are mine!!!
Disclaimer: I do not own Numb3rs. I just like to play with them.
Colby, did you get that forensic report yet?" Don barked out. His eyes were cold.
"No, Don. Uh, I haven't heard from the coroner's office."
"Well, get on the phone and tell them to stop fooling around. I want that report now," Don snapped at Colby. "I am going to see Charlie at CalSci and see if his equation has turned up anything."
Don stalked out of the office.
Colby, puzzled, asked Megan, "What was that all about?"
Shaking her head, Megan replied, "Not sure, but I have an idea."
Colby shrugged and went back to his desk to call the coroner.
~-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~
Don walked into Charlie's office and found Larry staring at the blackboard.
"Hey, Larry. Have you seen my brother?"
Larry turned slowly to look at Don, his hands tapping his chin. "Ah, Don. He said he would be right back. He went to check his mailbox."
Suppressing a sigh, Don said, "Okay. How are you two progressing on the equation?"
Larry mused, "What one may call progression, others may call a stumbling block."
Don's eyebrows knitted together. "What?"
"What Larry means to say is that they found a corrupt set in the data and they are reworking the numbers."
Both men looked up to see Amita standing at the door. "Hi Don, Larry. Charlie's not here?" she said with a small smile.
Larry answered, "No, he said he would be right back."
She tilted her head and bit her lip. "Okay, well, tell him I stopped by and I'll talk to him later." She waved goodbye and left the office.
Don said to no one in particular, "I see that dance hasn't gone anywhere."
Larry nodded. "I don't think either of them knows who should lead or if they are dancing the foxtrot or salsa."
Don shook his head at his brother's love life, or lack thereof. At least Charlie seemed to still have a chance with Amita, since she had stayed in California and at CalSci.
"Your brother mentioned that your own dance with the baker has hit a sour note," Larry stated, looking kindly at Don.
Don, annoyed, muttered, "Great, my brother's talking about my love life."
Larry shook his head. "No, no, it wasn't so much talking as I mentioned that I enjoyed the cookies he picked up from the bakery and he said that you two were no longer together."
Don, unable to keep a trace of anger out of his voice, replied, "Yeah, well, things don't always go as planned."
"Don, if I may offer a piece of advice." He tapped his jaw again. "They say a good baker knows when to let the dough rise and when it needs to be worked on. You just have decide on which one you need to do."
Don blinked twice before responding to Larry's comment, saying, "Yeah, uh, thanks, Larry. Can you just tell Charlie I stopped by?"
"With pleasure," Larry replied as his eyes went back to looking at the blackboard.
~_____________________________________________________________________________~
Later on that evening, Don was staring at the empty contents in the fridge and noticed that all that was in there was the food that Elisabeth had kept there, a bag of shriveled up apples, one of her organic yogurts and the last bottle of his favorite beer. He grabbed the beer out of the fridge and decided to order takeout when his cell phone rang. He growled, "Eppes." On the other end he heard a voice struggling to talk.
"Fed. Please..."
"Elisabeth?"
"It's..."
"What's wrong? Can you hear me? Elisabeth?"
She managed to say one last thing, ".... Help," before the line went dead. Dropping the takeout menu, Don grabbed his keys, badge and gun and ran out to his car. He drove as fast as he could over to her place.
He ran to the door and saw the door wide open. One of the neighbors opened their door and looked curiously about. Don saw the woman and ordered her, "Call the police, go back inside and lock the door." She nodded at him as he flashed his badge. He took out his gun and silently walked into the apartment. He checked the kitchen first; it was empty. He slowly walked into the living room of the apartment in the room. Don was met with the sight of two men on the floor. A few feet away he saw Elisabeth lying on the floor, unconscious and bleeding, with a cell phone clutched in her hand.
"Elisabeth?" He immediately went to her side, checking her pulse when he heard a voice mumble, "Is that you, Eppes?"
Don turned his head towards the voice and saw the man he knew to be Mario from Elisabeth's old team badly beaten and lying on the floor.
"Mario, what happened here?"
Before he could answer, Don heard someone yell, "Police."
He put his hands in the air and said, "In here. I'm Special Agent Don Eppes."
After the police cleared him, they began to ask what had happened. Don told them what little he knew and that Elisabeth was a friend of his and had called him before passing out. He handed one of the officers his card and told them if they needed anything else to call him but he wanted to check on his friend. He watched the medics come in and begin to assess the wounded. He walked slowly over to the one that was checking Elisabeth when the medics recognized Don and said, "Agent Eppes?"
"Yeah, hi, Carson." Don nodded in his direction while he watched them load her on the gurney. "Mind if I ride along?"
"You know the vic?" Carson replied.
"Yeah, you could say that," he replied, feeling numb.
The medic, not missing the look on Don's face, said, "Yeah, she's stable so you can ride with us."
Don climbed into the ambulance, sitting in silence while Carson kept an eye on his charge. At the hospital Don watched them take
Elisabeth away into an exam room. Not even a minute later the stretcher with Mario was wheeled in. He flashed his badge at the physician and told him that he would like to speak with Mario when they were done attending to his wounds.
He waited in the waiting room. His mind kept whirling with thoughts. What the hell happened? Why was Mario at her apartment? Who the hell were those two other guys?
A nurse in green scrubs came in and said, "Excuse me, Agent Eppes?"
Don turned. "Yes."
"You can speak to Mr. Thompson now."
"Thompson?"
"Yes, Matthew Thompson. He said that you call him Mario."
"Oh yes, thanks. Excuse me, nurse, any word on Elisabeth Grier?"
"No sir, they are still examining her. I'll have someone keep you posted."
He nodded and went over to talk to Matthew Thompson.
Don walked into the room where the man he knew to be called Mario was. His shirt was off and he had a bandage over his right shoulder. He had a large bruise forming on his left temple and a laceration on his head to match.
"Eppes," Mario said. "Been a while."
"You could say that."
The two stared at each other in stony silence till Mario spoke first. "I guess you want to know what happened, huh?"
Don nodded.
Mario fiddled with a bandage on his hand. "Any word on Elle?"
"I don't know her status. The nurse said she'd let me know."
Mario muttered to himself, "That woman has saved my life again. Now I really owe her." He nodded and sighed back into the pillow. "Sorry about her breaking up with you. Told her it was damn foolish."
Don said nothing, not dropping his stone mask once. "She called me for help; when I got there the two of you were laying in your blood with two other men."
"Both of them dead?" he said as he licked his lips.
"Yeah."
"Good." His eyes flickered in anger.
Annoyed for Mario to get on with the story, he said, "Who the hell were they?"
"One of them was the Director and the other was a goon." He saw the puzzled look on Don's face. "I guess I should start from the beginning. The man called the Director was our old boss." Seeing the surprised look on Don's face he continued, "I guess she didn't tell you." He shook his head. "So smart but yet so foolish. I quit working for them about two weeks ago and Elle was letting me crash till I could save up some cash for a place of my own. The Director I guess decided he didn't like me and Elle quitting and came over to show us the 'error of our ways,' if you get what I mean. Can you hand me that cup? I think I need some water."
Don quickly handed it to Mario, waiting while he took a long sip of water. He cleared his throat and began talking again. "Anyway, Elle was out jogging when the Director and that other guy showed up and started working me over. I guess I blacked out under their tender care for a bit, but when I came to I saw Elle going toe to toe with the Director." He said almost wistfully, "God, I love watching that woman work."
The nurse came in before Don could ask Mario any further questions. "Excuse me, Agent Eppes, but I have some information on Ms. Grier."
Don exchanged apprehensive looks with Mario before turning his attention to the nurse.
"She suffered a bruised lung, two cracked ribs, and some broken fingers."
Don walked over to the nurse. "Can I see her?"
The nurse, not missing the undertones of concern that Don had for the woman, said, "She's being moved to a room. The doctor prescribed a sedative to keep her comfortable. She's not awake at this time." Seeing the concern on Don's face, she added, "You can sit with her in the exam room till we move her upstairs."
Don got up to follow the nurse out when Mario said, "Do you know why she broke up with you?"
Don stopped and just stared at the injured man.
"No? I didn't think so. She broke up with you 'cause she was afraid."
Don looked skeptically at him. "Afraid? Afraid of what?"
"Yeah, afraid of so many things. Afraid of her feelings for you, afraid of where that was leading her." Mario looked Don straight in the eyes. "Eppes, she also was afraid of hurting you."
"Hurting me?" Shaking his head, he tried to digest what Mario had said.
"You're a lucky man, Eppes, 'cause I know for a fact that she's in love with you. She would never admit it, but it's true. You're just what she needs and I hope you can swallow your pride and try to work things out with her."
Tersely he answered, "Yeah, well, I think we are way past getting back together."
Mario snorted, "Yeah, don't be too sure." Not able to hold Don's look any longer, he said finally, "If I had any chance with her I wouldn't have told you that stuff, but I don't. If she would let me love her I would, but she loves you, Eppes, and I'm damn jealous."
Don walked out of the room, glancing one more time at a broken, pained man.
He walked into the exam room and saw that she was indeed asleep. She had a tube in her nose and an IV hooked up into her left arm.
Her left hand was bandaged and she had a bandage on her head. He touched the side of her face and leaned over to kiss her forehead.
He pulled out the chair next to the bed and laid his hand gently on top of hers.
An hour or so had passed when the doctor came in to check on his patient.
Don had fallen asleep in the chair. His eyes opened immediately when the doctor came in.
The doctor looked down at her chart and turned towards him. "I'm Doctor Morris. Are you family?"
He rubbed the remnants of sleep off his face and replied, "No, she doesn't have any."
Dr. Morris glanced at the gun and badge that Don wore and asked, "You the agent in charge of this case?"
"Um, yeah, sure."
The doctor glanced back at Don again but decided to go on speaking. "We'll be moving her to a room shortly."
Don looked at Elisabeth as he asked the doctor, "Is she going to be alright?"
"We are admitting her for observation for her lung for a day or so. We want to make sure that lung doesn't give her any problems, but I don't anticipate that it will. Is there anyone who can stay with her when she's released? She's going to be in a lot of pain for awhile and she is going to need help with mobility."
"Um, yeah. I'm a friend of hers. She’ll probably stay with me."
The doctor nodded. "Okay, well you need to go home and get some rest. You'll be no good to her if you aren't well yourself. Can you stop by the nurses station to help them with her personal information before you leave?"
"Yeah, sure. I'll do that." After speaking to Admissions he started to go out to the parking lot and realized that he didn't have his car here. Swearing to himself, he took out his cell phone.
"Hi, Dad. Sorry to call you at this late hour, but can you give me a ride from the hospital? Dad, calm down. I'm fine and no one on the team is hurt either. My car? I left it at Elisabeth's. No, we did not patch things up. Who's hurt? That's a long story, but it's Elisabeth. Dad, I really don't want to discuss it over the phone. Can you just come and get me? Okay, well, they are going to admit her, so I will be up in her room. It's 526. I'll see you when you get here. Okay, see you in twenty."
~___________________________________________________________________________~
Alan found his son sitting beside a very banged up looking Elisabeth. With concern in his voice, he said, "Donnie?"
His voice was weary when he spoke. "Hey, Dad. Thanks for coming to get me."
"Sure, anytime. Is she going to be alright?"
"Yeah."
Alan touched Don's shoulder. "You wanna talk about it?"
"No, not really. I'm just..."
"I know, Don. She's in good hands here. I'm sure once she's better, you two can work things out."
"I don't know, Dad."
"You wouldn't be looking at her like that if you didn't want to at least try. Come on, I'll take you back to the house. We can go get your car in the morning after breakfast." He placed a hand on Don's shoulder and led him down to the elevators.