Who We Are (19/35)
Title: Who We Are (19/35)
Author: ladygray99
Rating: NC17
Characters/Pairings: Charlie/David
Word count: 4,852
Warnings/Spoilers: Discussion of alcoholism. Attempted Suicide and the after effects there of. See Part 1 for Spoilers.
Summary: Sometimes life makes you look in the mirror and if you don’t like what you see there are only a couple of options. - Charlie and David explore some more and there's fallout from the canceled wedding.
Previous Chapters: 1 5 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Notes:Written for choc_fic 's 100 Days of Color. I know a lot of people around here don't particularly like Amita. I don't like Amita much. If I'd been writing the show she would have probably gotten tragically killed at the end of season 2, but that aside she's not the bad guy in this one. If anything she's a victim as well. She's getting a bit of a whump in this part and I'd like people's opinions on it.
Beta: swingandswirl and riverotter1951
Chapter 19
David knocked on Charlie’s office door. He found his life was once again part of the Eppes free form dance via Charlie’s random arrivals at his apartment. Depending on the hour it usually resulted in a night of heavy petting, cuddling and Charlie’s continuing attempts to improve his oral sex skills. On days when Charlie hadn’t spent the night David would swing by his office, usually with lunch. It wasn’t the most regular of relationships. It probably couldn’t even really be called a relationship, more like friends with third base benefits but David was trying to enjoy it as much as he could. Plus Don had backed off a little.
“Come in,” a voice called from the other side of Charlie’s door.
David stepped in to find Charlie’s new office looking a little more like his old one. It was filled with boards and for some reason a lot of string strung everywhere like a giant drugged up spider had spun a web and wandered off. In the middle of the web was Liam Goodwin holding a ball of string over his head, and several bits of string in his teeth while Charlie wrote something on a board.
“Hey Charlie, Mr. Goodwin.”
Liam nodded but didn’t drop the string between his teeth.
“Should I even ask?”
“A thought exercise pertaining to Mr. Goodwin’s idea.”
“Funny, I was thinking string theory.”
Liam made a noise that might have been a sarcastic laugh.
“Are you anywhere near the end of a thought so you can stop for lunch?”
Liam spit out the string and put down the ball. “Yes, yes he is and I really need to go study for Audio Topography, I’ll talk to you later Dr. Eppes.”
Charlie laughed and actually put down the chalk. Liam grabbed his bag, ducked through the string and was out the door.
David ducked through the string himself and found a spot on the couch not covered in papers. “So, how’s the big idea coming?”
“Slowly, but it is progressing.”
David unpacked a couple of sandwiches and coffee for Charlie. “How’s working with Liam going?”
“Good,” Charlie answered quickly. “He’s a bright young man. We could use more like him.”
“No problems?”
Charlie sipped at his coffee with a half shrug. “He told me he was glad I was back and hoped that I was over whatever happened and was feeling better.”
“What did you say?”
“That I was getting there.”
“How’s everything else going?”
Charlie made a bit of a face. “Little hung over actually.”
“You know you’re not supposed to be drinking.”
“I know, I know but Dad wanted to have a heart to heart finally and a few drinks made it a lot easier.”
David sat up a little. Charlie had been tiptoeing around his father since he got out of St. Clare’s and vice versa. “And how’d that go?”
Charlie made another face. “He slept with Uncle Rory.”
David half choked on a bit of sandwich. “He what? Who?”
“This guy who was friends with my Mom and Dad when I was a kid. Uncle Rory. I think he was part of the great movement or whatever. Moved back east when I was six or seven. Anyway, apparently somewhere during the summer of ‘66 with a little herbal help my Dad slept with Uncle Rory and last night he felt the need to tell me this. I know it was his way of being supportive or something but my memory of Uncle Rory is a guy who looked kind of like a blonde version of Magnum P.I. and now I’ve got this mental image of the two of them suck in my head which might possibly put me off sex for a very long time.”
David understood. It was bad enough thinking about your parents having sex but it was worse thinking about them with other people. When it had struck that his mother and her long time boyfriend Franklin were almost certainly having sex he’d gone out and gotten quite drunk.
“Can you calculate how much alcohol it’ll take to erase that image?” David had to admit he found the idea of Alan having sex a little disturbing himself.
“More than my liver can handle.” Was Charlie’s answer.
David just shook his head and they quietly ate for a few minutes. That was one of the things he was learning about Charlie. While Charlie was a champion talker and could ramble on for hours about whatever was in his head he also had an appreciation for silence and didn’t need to fill it up with noise for the sake of noise.
There was a quick tap on the door and David looked up from his lunch as Don let himself in. “Hey Chuck, files you wanted.” Don held up a stack.
“When did I want files?” Charlie asked ducking under the string and taking them from Don.
“About three months ago. Something about historical patterns of damage to federal property? Or something like that.”
Charlie closed his eyes for a half a second. “Yeah, that. Um...” He looked around then just plopped the folders down on top of a stack of student papers.
Don gave a little nod to David. “How’s it going?”
“Fine. I’ll get the report on the Harper questioning to you once I’m back at the office.”
“Sure. There’s not a huge rush on that one.”
“You staying for lunch, Don?” Charlie asked.
“Nah, I’m going to swing by the house. Dad wants me to eat the meatloaf.”
“You know you’re going to have to learn to cook for yourself one of these days?”
“You’re one to talk, buddy. I’ll see you.”
David watched as a slightly evil look crossed Charlie’s face. Don reached the office door. “Hey Don, Dad slept with Uncle Rory.”
Don whipped around. “What!”
“Summer of ‘66 Dad and Uncle Rory got stoned and did the horizontal tango. Who do you think was on top? Probably not Dad.”
Don’s jaw dropped, his eyes bugged out and he looked slightly green. David tried really hard not to laugh. “How do you know this?”
“Dad told me.”
“And why the hell are you telling me?!”
Charlie grinned. “Because misery loves company. You are my brother and if I have to be stuck with that mental image for the rest of my life so do you.”
Don let out a small but horrified yell and left the office at record speed.
“He’s never going to forgive you for that, Charlie.”
Charlie sat down and kicked his feet up on his coffee table. “This is me so not caring.”
~
David found he was having a hard time caring about his upcoming water bill when he had a wet and soapy Charlie in his arms. Charlie’s back was against the shower wall and their tongues were fighting for dominance. It had been a heck of a day. A routine early morning questioning at a suspect's home had turned into a full tactical situation. David had gotten out unscathed which was more than could be said for the suspect. It still left him with the residue of a pre-lunch adrenaline rush and Charlie moaning into his mouth.
He grabbed a handful of Charlie’s ass nearly lifting him off his feet. Charlie squeaked but didn’t break off the kiss. He kneaded Charlie’s ass then pulled away from the kiss. “Ever had anyone play with your ass, Charlie?” David knew his voice was almost a growl. He couldn’t help it. Charlie shook his head, his eyes already blown wide. “Never even touched yourself back there?” Charlie shook his head again. “Good.”
David let a soapy finger slide between Charlie’s cheeks and stroke Charlie’s hole. Charlie gasped and thrust his hips against David’s leg. “Easy there.” David kept running his finger in tight little circles round and round as Charlie’s moans became louder and more needy. Then very, very slowly David pushed his finger in. Charlie was beyond tight and scalding hot and David could feel his cock just screaming to go there.
Charlie took a breath and held it but he didn’t try to squirm away. Instead he put his head against David’s shoulder and pushed back onto David’s finger trying to take in more than there was to take. David chuckled as he started slowly working his finger in and out of Charlie. “You like that?” Charlie nodded with a high pitched whine. “You like having my finger in your ass?” Charlie nodded some more and pushed back harder. David twisted his hand around a little until Charlie yelped and nearly jumped out of his skin. David gently stroked the spot he’d found until Charlie was trembling in his arms. “Can you imagine what it'll feel like when my cock is hitting that spot over and over?”
Charlie was full on humping David’s thigh. “More,” he croaked out pushing back against David’s hand.
“No.” Charlie whined. “This is all you get for now.” David kept his voice low. “You’re taking it slow, remember? One finger tonight. Maybe two next time.” Charlie shook his head and pushed back harder. David remembered something that had been on Charlie’s Maybe list. He slid his free hand up Charlie’s back and into his hair. Once he had a good handful he slowly but firmly pulled. Charlie’s eyes rolled back and his legs went out from under him and David had to act quickly to control their mutual descent to the floor of the thankfully large tub.
He still found himself on top of Charlie, the hot water pelting down on his back. He gave Charlie’s hair another pull. Charlie moaned and David felt a spurt of cum hit his thighs. Charlie’s stamina was improving a bit and hair pulling was almost certainly moved from the Maybe column to the Yes.
David pushed himself up and back from Charlie and grabbed his own cock. Charlie still looked blissed out and was panting hard. His lips were swollen from kissing and there was cum still clinging to his softening cock. It was more than enough visual for David and he stroked himself until his own cum splashed heavy against Charlie’s skin.
Charlie scraped some from his body and brought it to his lips licking it delicately and deliberately from his fingers. David had to give Charlie credit, he learned quickly just what got David’s blood flowing. But if there was going to be a round two David wanted a bed instead of the shower floor.
~
David always felt like a jock walking down the halls of CalSci. He knew he wasn’t an idiot but also compared to the kids scurrying past him he might as well have been the guy who gave out wedgies in gym class. Walking down the hall with Colby and Don was a whole different dynamic. Like some sort of primal nerd instinct the hall in front of them cleared out and they were given a wide berth. The little primal jock in David’s head smiled.
As they got near Charlie’s office however an uneasy feeling hit David and with a few more steps he could make out raised voices. He shrugged just a little so his gun was that little bit easier to get to. He saw Don and Colby make similar motions as they went onto alert. They paused by Charlie’s door. A man was yelling and underneath a woman was yelling back. David was pretty sure it was Amita but he couldn’t make out any of the words. Then a third voice rose up and David was sure it was Charlie.
“Weapons?” Colby asked. There was no question about going away and coming back later. They were going through that door.
Don shook his head. “No, but be on guard. This could just be a math fight.”
“Doesn’t sound snarky enough for a math fight.” The other two voices had fallen away and now it was mainly Charlie and he sounded like he was on a rampage.
Don gave a silent count to three then pushed open the door.
Once the door was open the words became clear. There were four people standing around Charlie’s desk. David’s eyes went first to Charlie once it was clear there wasn’t an immediate physical threat. Charlie looked furious beyond anything David had ever encountered or ever wanted to again. He was standing in front of Amita who was crying and she did not cry pretty. Her eyes and nose were swollen and her face blotchy. The other two people were late middle aged and David was going to take a flying guess that they were Amita’s parents.
“She was kidnapped!” Charlie screamed at the top of his lungs. “She was held at gun point for three days and you couldn’t be bothered to get your asses on a plane but she tells you she’s not getting married and you’re on the first flight out! What the hell kind of people are you!?”
David was a little surprised. He knew the wedding was off and had been for a while and hadn’t really thought about what Amita might have told her parents. Amita’s father leaned into Charlie’s face but Charlie wasn’t backing down. “How dare you speak to us that way!” he snarled. “What you have done to our daughter...”
“I love her!” Charlie shouted back. David jerked as that kick to the guts he’d been waiting for hit with full force. “I will always love her. She is my best friend. She will always be a part of my life. Hell, we might still have children but she is the one who walked out on me and it’s the god damn 21st century and she has every right to do that!” David tried to breathe. His body didn’t want to. It didn’t want to do anything but curl up in a ball of self pity.
Amita’s father snapped something David didn’t understand but Amita flinched. Then her eyes quickly darted to towards Don. It was the first acknowledgment that any of the group even realized they were in the office.
“Daddy, please.”
David’s stomach twisted from the misery in Amita’s voice. Her father snapped something else then reached past Charlie and tried to grab Amita’s arm. That’s when David moved along with Don and Colby. Charlie wedged himself between Amita and her father shouldering him aside but it only put him off balance for a half a second. He moved forward again with a raised hand, this time towards Charlie.
Don got there first grabbing the raised hand. At the same moment David grabbed Charlie because he looked just mad enough to go after Amita’s father. Colby just positioned himself as a human wall between the two groups.
“Take your hands off me!” Amita’s father shouted as her mother took a step away looking more frightened than anything else.
“Yeah, I don’t think so.”
Charlie struggled against David’s grip. “Hey, chill. Come on.”
Colby kept his arms spread between them until both parties had stopped struggling. David let Charlie go first then Don let Amita’s father go. There was silence in the room.
Amita slowly stepped around David and Charlie and stood in front of her parents. David noted that Don didn’t back off. If Amita’s father twitched Don would be on him.
Amita tried to wipe the tears from her face but they seemed to just keep coming. “Daddy.” Her voice broke. “I’m sorry. I know I wasn’t the son you wanted. I tried. I did everything you wanted. I wanted to make you proud of me. I just couldn’t do this.” Amita’s voice broke again.
Amita’s father opened his mouth. Don grabbed his wrist again. “Before you say or do anything Mr. Ramanujan keep in mind you are addressing a valuable federal asset, a member of my team, and an American citizen and I will not hesitate to throw your ass in jail for assault if you lay so much as a finger on her.” Don let his wrist go.
There was silence again. “Daddy?”
Mr. Ramanujan’s face went cold before he turned and stormed from the room. As he did David caught a whiff of something high proof.
Amita held out a hand to her mother. She opened her mouth as if to say something but then snapped it shut and trotted after her husband.
Amita wrapped her arms around herself and began to sob. In less than a second both Don and Charlie had their arms around her.
“Did you smell that?” David whispered to Colby.
“Yeah, I’m on it.”
“Bring back a Twix bar.” Colby gave David a weird look. “Serious.”
Colby nodded and quickly headed out of the office as Don and Charlie were getting Amita settled onto the couch.
David wasn’t sure what to do. He still felt like he’d been kicked in the guts and seeing Amita’s arms wrapped around Charlie hurt but it also seemed a selfish shadow of pain compared to the wracking sobs coming from Amita’s slim body.
Don rubbed his hand up and down her back while Charlie stroked her head. “It’s okay,” Don said softly. “Just let it out. It’ll be okay.”
Amita cried for several more minutes before trying to scrub at her eyes and sniffing loudly. David pulled his ever present pack of hypoallergenic tissues from his pocket and handed them over.
“Thank you,” she whispered before blowing her nose impressively loud. Don rubbed her back a bit more. Suddenly she turned around and pushed him. “Why didn’t you tell me what happened to Charlie!”
Don put his arms in the air. “I didn’t know you hadn’t been told. I swear. I thought my Dad told you. I thought you’d be the first one he called. I thought you were just avoiding us and I was trying to give you space, I swear. If I’d known you didn’t know I would have told you. Honest.”
Amita scowled at Don then wrapped her arms around herself. “It’s all my fault,” she suddenly sobbed.
Charlie rubbed at her back. “No, no, I told you it’s no ones fault but mine and sort of Don’s but I gave him a black eye and hacked some baby pictures into his personnel file last week, so it’s okay.”
“You what?” Don snapped.
“Don’t worry, I picked the cute ones of you with peace signs painted on your cheeks.”
Don growled, Amita giggled through the tears and David made a metal note to look at Don’s file as soon as possible before Don got the pictures removed.
“I just wanted them to be proud of me.” Amita’s face was still sunken and miserable.
Don took her chin and turned her face towards him. “Hey, you are brilliant. You are hot. You’ve got two Ph.Ds. That’s more than Chuck’s got. You fight crime with the best team in town. If they aren’t proud of you then they are idiots who don’t deserve you crying over them.”
“I’m not married,” Amita choked out.
“So what? It’s the 21st century. I’m not married and Robin turned me down when I asked. Chuck can’t get married by law now. David and Colby? They’re married to the job and are going to end up in the old agents’ home together.”
David would have replied to that if he wasn’t still processing the new knowledge of Don’s failed proposal.
“And,” Don continued. “I’m pretty sure the only way you’re ever getting Warner or Betancourt into a white Vera Wang is if it came with matching thigh holsters. You are still young and beautiful and brilliant, you can still get another doctorate, you can still have a family. Hell you can still have Chuck’s kids though why you’d want to risk that nose breading through...” Charlie reached around Amita and whacked his brother on the side of the head which earned a laugh from Amita who wiped at her eyes.
“Thank you, Don.”
“And if you want a distraction to take your mind off it all I’ve got case files stacking up?”
Before Amita could answer Colby came back into the office his face serious.
“Amita?”
“Yes.”
Colby crouched down in front of Amita and took her hands. “Amita, I need to ask you something.” Colby took a deep breath. “Does... Is your father prone to drinking at all?”
Amita frantically shook her head. “No. No. He stopped. He stopped a long time ago. He promised he stopped. That’s why they went back to India so he’d... stop.” Amita’s face crumpled again.
Colby let out a sigh. “He pulled his rental car out of the lot going the wrong way right in front of a city cop. The cop pulled him over and he blew .13.” Amita pulled her hands away from Colby. “He got a little belligerent and he’s been arrested.”
David had a feeling that wasn’t the whole story but it was certainly being edited for Amita’s sake.
Amita closed her eyes went still. “What about my mother?” she asked softly.
“She said something about jet lag and getting him a lawyer in the morning.”
“I’ll call my lawyer.” Charlie offered and David felt that kicked in the guts feeling come back. This was a man who he’d been on the verge of brawling with minutes earlier but he was Amita’s father so he would do what needed to be done.
Amita shook her head. “No. Don’t bother. The consulate will get him out. They always do. Someone is always cleaning up after him, it shouldn’t be you.”
“Well, he’s being taken down to the Central Pasadena Police station on Garfield.”
Amita shrugged. “He’s made it very clear where I stand in his life. He can sit there.”
Colby took Amita’s hands again. “Okay, look, I loved my father, I respected the hell out of him, he was a soldier and he taught me everything I know about duty and honor and loyalty but he was an alcoholic with a capital A. And the thing is he never tried to stop. He knew he drank. He knew he drank too much and he didn’t care. He just kept on drinking until he screwed up and someone died and even that wasn’t enough. He put his fishing gear and a twelve pack into his truck and he drove up into the mountains and right off a cliff and to this day I don’t know if it was an accident or on purpose. Now right now you have every right to be fucking furious at your father. And you have every right to stay that way for a good long time but at the end of everything, when you’ve got to weigh things up, remember that he at least tried. My father didn’t. Okay?”
Amita tried to nod but her face was twisting with more misery. “He wanted a son,” she squeaked out.
Colby shrugged. “That’s just a standard guy thing, goes up there with the fast car and super model house wife.”
Amita shook her head. “No. The doctors told my Mom she shouldn’t have me. That it might kill her. But they also told my parents that they were going to have a boy. If they were only going to have one child it was supposed to be a boy.” Amita’s voice cracked again. “I did everything they wanted.”
David felt his heart break a little. Don looked furious and Charlie looked close to tears himself but this time it was Colby who pulled Amita in close and held her while she cried some more.
When Amita calmed down Colby reached into his pocket and pulled out the candy David had told him to get. “Twix?”
Amita snatched it and quickly ripped open the package shoving one of the candy sticks into her mouth. “I’m sorry everyone,” she mumbled around the sugar.
Don rubbed her shoulder a bit. “Hey, don’t worry about it. We all have days.”
“What did you guys need anyway?” Amita asked looking around.
“Charlie called us down here to look at something.”
Charlie jumped up. “Oh that’s right, the thing… Um…The thing, the thing. ” Charlie looked at the papers on his desk then grabbed one and held it up in triumph. “Ah! The thing!”
~
David was pacing around his apartment as the sun was going down. He was trying not to be mad. He was trying not to be hurt or to let his imagination run away from him. He was trying to tell himself that he knew what he was getting into with Charlie and it’s not like Charlie had any feelings for him beyond hormonally driven attraction and he should be thankful he was getting that.
He was about to change into sweats and go for a very long, hard run when there was a knock at his door. He knew it was either Colby or Charlie. Most likely Charlie.
He opened the door. Charlie brushed past barely looking at him. “Shit.” Charlie started. “Of all the times those two could have shown up. You think I could have pleaded insanity if I had just broken that idiot’s nose? I mean really.” Charlie looked up at David. “What?”
“Nothing? How’s Amita?”
“She’ll be fine. She’s tougher than she looks. I think a night in the drunk tank will be good for her father though. I mean what scares me is must have driven from the airport to CalSci in that condition. How the hell did he even manage to get a rental in that state? Oh well. One more question to ponder I guess.” Charlie lifted onto his toes to try to give David a kiss. David turned his head away letting the kiss land low on his jaw. Charlie stepped back. “Okay. What have I done?”
“Nothing.”
“Yeah right. I’ve had two long term relationships, I know when I’ve fucked up so how have I fucked up this one?”
David tried to squeeze down the ball of anger and hurt that was just sitting in his chest but it didn’t want to budge. Instead it crept up his throat and started to fall from his lips. “Well you’re implying this is a relationship when I don’t think there’s even a name for whatever this is but certainly not relationship. And it’ll be pretty hard to have a relationship when you’re busy having babies with Amita. But that’s okay, I don’t want to get between you and the woman you still love.” David kicked himself even as the words were coming from his mouth. Charlie’s face twisted up with confusion and David knew he just sounded catty but couldn’t seem to shut himself up.
“I’ve known Amita almost a decade. Longer than I’ve known you by the way and we’re not exactly strangers. No, I am not particularly attracted to her body but I’m not going to stop caring for her or stop loving her over night and may I add you were the one that first pointed this out.”
“And where do I fit in. Your experiment? Your learning tool? A not quite fuck buddy? When I’m holding you are you even thinking of me or am I just some stand in for Jesse Pressman, long lost love?”
David knew he’d crossed a line as Charlie’s face went hard. “Of course I am thinking about you, David.” Charlie’s words were cold and sharp.
“How am I supposed to know that?”
“Well I just told you. This isn’t exactly easy for me, you know?”
“Well it’s not exactly easy for me either. I’ve got your brother breathing down my neck, you come and go as you please expecting I don’t even know what. Someone to get you up to speed or something.”
“Well I’m sorry if I can’t give blow jobs while swinging from the chandeliers like your other men.”
“There are no other men!” David yelled and Charlie stepped back. “I haven’t had a man in my bed since Isaiah was killed. Not one. I haven’t have a date with a man, I haven’t flirted with one. Nothing. And then suddenly you’re there in front of me wanting me to show you things. This. Is. Hard. And if I’m just some sort of learning tool for you I want to know now so I can be braced for it when you wander off with someone better.”
Charlie’s mouth came open and then the anger settled onto his face. “Do you honestly think I’d put myself, in this mental wreck of a condition, into the hands of someone I felt nothing for?”
The part of David’s brain that was actually listening cheered. Charlie felt something for him. Unfortunately the fear was still speaking. “I don’t know. Between you and me I don’t know anything. I don’t know how I’m supposed to act around you. I don’t know if I’m supposed to tell anyone. I don’t know what this is.”
A strange calm seemed to come over Charlie’s face. “Well neither do I. If you figure it out call me.” And with that Charlie walked out.
Previous Next
Author: ladygray99
Rating: NC17
Characters/Pairings: Charlie/David
Word count: 4,852
Warnings/Spoilers: Discussion of alcoholism. Attempted Suicide and the after effects there of. See Part 1 for Spoilers.
Summary: Sometimes life makes you look in the mirror and if you don’t like what you see there are only a couple of options. - Charlie and David explore some more and there's fallout from the canceled wedding.
Previous Chapters: 1 5 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Notes:Written for choc_fic 's 100 Days of Color. I know a lot of people around here don't particularly like Amita. I don't like Amita much. If I'd been writing the show she would have probably gotten tragically killed at the end of season 2, but that aside she's not the bad guy in this one. If anything she's a victim as well. She's getting a bit of a whump in this part and I'd like people's opinions on it.
Beta: swingandswirl and riverotter1951
Chapter 19
David knocked on Charlie’s office door. He found his life was once again part of the Eppes free form dance via Charlie’s random arrivals at his apartment. Depending on the hour it usually resulted in a night of heavy petting, cuddling and Charlie’s continuing attempts to improve his oral sex skills. On days when Charlie hadn’t spent the night David would swing by his office, usually with lunch. It wasn’t the most regular of relationships. It probably couldn’t even really be called a relationship, more like friends with third base benefits but David was trying to enjoy it as much as he could. Plus Don had backed off a little.
“Come in,” a voice called from the other side of Charlie’s door.
David stepped in to find Charlie’s new office looking a little more like his old one. It was filled with boards and for some reason a lot of string strung everywhere like a giant drugged up spider had spun a web and wandered off. In the middle of the web was Liam Goodwin holding a ball of string over his head, and several bits of string in his teeth while Charlie wrote something on a board.
“Hey Charlie, Mr. Goodwin.”
Liam nodded but didn’t drop the string between his teeth.
“Should I even ask?”
“A thought exercise pertaining to Mr. Goodwin’s idea.”
“Funny, I was thinking string theory.”
Liam made a noise that might have been a sarcastic laugh.
“Are you anywhere near the end of a thought so you can stop for lunch?”
Liam spit out the string and put down the ball. “Yes, yes he is and I really need to go study for Audio Topography, I’ll talk to you later Dr. Eppes.”
Charlie laughed and actually put down the chalk. Liam grabbed his bag, ducked through the string and was out the door.
David ducked through the string himself and found a spot on the couch not covered in papers. “So, how’s the big idea coming?”
“Slowly, but it is progressing.”
David unpacked a couple of sandwiches and coffee for Charlie. “How’s working with Liam going?”
“Good,” Charlie answered quickly. “He’s a bright young man. We could use more like him.”
“No problems?”
Charlie sipped at his coffee with a half shrug. “He told me he was glad I was back and hoped that I was over whatever happened and was feeling better.”
“What did you say?”
“That I was getting there.”
“How’s everything else going?”
Charlie made a bit of a face. “Little hung over actually.”
“You know you’re not supposed to be drinking.”
“I know, I know but Dad wanted to have a heart to heart finally and a few drinks made it a lot easier.”
David sat up a little. Charlie had been tiptoeing around his father since he got out of St. Clare’s and vice versa. “And how’d that go?”
Charlie made another face. “He slept with Uncle Rory.”
David half choked on a bit of sandwich. “He what? Who?”
“This guy who was friends with my Mom and Dad when I was a kid. Uncle Rory. I think he was part of the great movement or whatever. Moved back east when I was six or seven. Anyway, apparently somewhere during the summer of ‘66 with a little herbal help my Dad slept with Uncle Rory and last night he felt the need to tell me this. I know it was his way of being supportive or something but my memory of Uncle Rory is a guy who looked kind of like a blonde version of Magnum P.I. and now I’ve got this mental image of the two of them suck in my head which might possibly put me off sex for a very long time.”
David understood. It was bad enough thinking about your parents having sex but it was worse thinking about them with other people. When it had struck that his mother and her long time boyfriend Franklin were almost certainly having sex he’d gone out and gotten quite drunk.
“Can you calculate how much alcohol it’ll take to erase that image?” David had to admit he found the idea of Alan having sex a little disturbing himself.
“More than my liver can handle.” Was Charlie’s answer.
David just shook his head and they quietly ate for a few minutes. That was one of the things he was learning about Charlie. While Charlie was a champion talker and could ramble on for hours about whatever was in his head he also had an appreciation for silence and didn’t need to fill it up with noise for the sake of noise.
There was a quick tap on the door and David looked up from his lunch as Don let himself in. “Hey Chuck, files you wanted.” Don held up a stack.
“When did I want files?” Charlie asked ducking under the string and taking them from Don.
“About three months ago. Something about historical patterns of damage to federal property? Or something like that.”
Charlie closed his eyes for a half a second. “Yeah, that. Um...” He looked around then just plopped the folders down on top of a stack of student papers.
Don gave a little nod to David. “How’s it going?”
“Fine. I’ll get the report on the Harper questioning to you once I’m back at the office.”
“Sure. There’s not a huge rush on that one.”
“You staying for lunch, Don?” Charlie asked.
“Nah, I’m going to swing by the house. Dad wants me to eat the meatloaf.”
“You know you’re going to have to learn to cook for yourself one of these days?”
“You’re one to talk, buddy. I’ll see you.”
David watched as a slightly evil look crossed Charlie’s face. Don reached the office door. “Hey Don, Dad slept with Uncle Rory.”
Don whipped around. “What!”
“Summer of ‘66 Dad and Uncle Rory got stoned and did the horizontal tango. Who do you think was on top? Probably not Dad.”
Don’s jaw dropped, his eyes bugged out and he looked slightly green. David tried really hard not to laugh. “How do you know this?”
“Dad told me.”
“And why the hell are you telling me?!”
Charlie grinned. “Because misery loves company. You are my brother and if I have to be stuck with that mental image for the rest of my life so do you.”
Don let out a small but horrified yell and left the office at record speed.
“He’s never going to forgive you for that, Charlie.”
Charlie sat down and kicked his feet up on his coffee table. “This is me so not caring.”
~
David found he was having a hard time caring about his upcoming water bill when he had a wet and soapy Charlie in his arms. Charlie’s back was against the shower wall and their tongues were fighting for dominance. It had been a heck of a day. A routine early morning questioning at a suspect's home had turned into a full tactical situation. David had gotten out unscathed which was more than could be said for the suspect. It still left him with the residue of a pre-lunch adrenaline rush and Charlie moaning into his mouth.
He grabbed a handful of Charlie’s ass nearly lifting him off his feet. Charlie squeaked but didn’t break off the kiss. He kneaded Charlie’s ass then pulled away from the kiss. “Ever had anyone play with your ass, Charlie?” David knew his voice was almost a growl. He couldn’t help it. Charlie shook his head, his eyes already blown wide. “Never even touched yourself back there?” Charlie shook his head again. “Good.”
David let a soapy finger slide between Charlie’s cheeks and stroke Charlie’s hole. Charlie gasped and thrust his hips against David’s leg. “Easy there.” David kept running his finger in tight little circles round and round as Charlie’s moans became louder and more needy. Then very, very slowly David pushed his finger in. Charlie was beyond tight and scalding hot and David could feel his cock just screaming to go there.
Charlie took a breath and held it but he didn’t try to squirm away. Instead he put his head against David’s shoulder and pushed back onto David’s finger trying to take in more than there was to take. David chuckled as he started slowly working his finger in and out of Charlie. “You like that?” Charlie nodded with a high pitched whine. “You like having my finger in your ass?” Charlie nodded some more and pushed back harder. David twisted his hand around a little until Charlie yelped and nearly jumped out of his skin. David gently stroked the spot he’d found until Charlie was trembling in his arms. “Can you imagine what it'll feel like when my cock is hitting that spot over and over?”
Charlie was full on humping David’s thigh. “More,” he croaked out pushing back against David’s hand.
“No.” Charlie whined. “This is all you get for now.” David kept his voice low. “You’re taking it slow, remember? One finger tonight. Maybe two next time.” Charlie shook his head and pushed back harder. David remembered something that had been on Charlie’s Maybe list. He slid his free hand up Charlie’s back and into his hair. Once he had a good handful he slowly but firmly pulled. Charlie’s eyes rolled back and his legs went out from under him and David had to act quickly to control their mutual descent to the floor of the thankfully large tub.
He still found himself on top of Charlie, the hot water pelting down on his back. He gave Charlie’s hair another pull. Charlie moaned and David felt a spurt of cum hit his thighs. Charlie’s stamina was improving a bit and hair pulling was almost certainly moved from the Maybe column to the Yes.
David pushed himself up and back from Charlie and grabbed his own cock. Charlie still looked blissed out and was panting hard. His lips were swollen from kissing and there was cum still clinging to his softening cock. It was more than enough visual for David and he stroked himself until his own cum splashed heavy against Charlie’s skin.
Charlie scraped some from his body and brought it to his lips licking it delicately and deliberately from his fingers. David had to give Charlie credit, he learned quickly just what got David’s blood flowing. But if there was going to be a round two David wanted a bed instead of the shower floor.
~
David always felt like a jock walking down the halls of CalSci. He knew he wasn’t an idiot but also compared to the kids scurrying past him he might as well have been the guy who gave out wedgies in gym class. Walking down the hall with Colby and Don was a whole different dynamic. Like some sort of primal nerd instinct the hall in front of them cleared out and they were given a wide berth. The little primal jock in David’s head smiled.
As they got near Charlie’s office however an uneasy feeling hit David and with a few more steps he could make out raised voices. He shrugged just a little so his gun was that little bit easier to get to. He saw Don and Colby make similar motions as they went onto alert. They paused by Charlie’s door. A man was yelling and underneath a woman was yelling back. David was pretty sure it was Amita but he couldn’t make out any of the words. Then a third voice rose up and David was sure it was Charlie.
“Weapons?” Colby asked. There was no question about going away and coming back later. They were going through that door.
Don shook his head. “No, but be on guard. This could just be a math fight.”
“Doesn’t sound snarky enough for a math fight.” The other two voices had fallen away and now it was mainly Charlie and he sounded like he was on a rampage.
Don gave a silent count to three then pushed open the door.
Once the door was open the words became clear. There were four people standing around Charlie’s desk. David’s eyes went first to Charlie once it was clear there wasn’t an immediate physical threat. Charlie looked furious beyond anything David had ever encountered or ever wanted to again. He was standing in front of Amita who was crying and she did not cry pretty. Her eyes and nose were swollen and her face blotchy. The other two people were late middle aged and David was going to take a flying guess that they were Amita’s parents.
“She was kidnapped!” Charlie screamed at the top of his lungs. “She was held at gun point for three days and you couldn’t be bothered to get your asses on a plane but she tells you she’s not getting married and you’re on the first flight out! What the hell kind of people are you!?”
David was a little surprised. He knew the wedding was off and had been for a while and hadn’t really thought about what Amita might have told her parents. Amita’s father leaned into Charlie’s face but Charlie wasn’t backing down. “How dare you speak to us that way!” he snarled. “What you have done to our daughter...”
“I love her!” Charlie shouted back. David jerked as that kick to the guts he’d been waiting for hit with full force. “I will always love her. She is my best friend. She will always be a part of my life. Hell, we might still have children but she is the one who walked out on me and it’s the god damn 21st century and she has every right to do that!” David tried to breathe. His body didn’t want to. It didn’t want to do anything but curl up in a ball of self pity.
Amita’s father snapped something David didn’t understand but Amita flinched. Then her eyes quickly darted to towards Don. It was the first acknowledgment that any of the group even realized they were in the office.
“Daddy, please.”
David’s stomach twisted from the misery in Amita’s voice. Her father snapped something else then reached past Charlie and tried to grab Amita’s arm. That’s when David moved along with Don and Colby. Charlie wedged himself between Amita and her father shouldering him aside but it only put him off balance for a half a second. He moved forward again with a raised hand, this time towards Charlie.
Don got there first grabbing the raised hand. At the same moment David grabbed Charlie because he looked just mad enough to go after Amita’s father. Colby just positioned himself as a human wall between the two groups.
“Take your hands off me!” Amita’s father shouted as her mother took a step away looking more frightened than anything else.
“Yeah, I don’t think so.”
Charlie struggled against David’s grip. “Hey, chill. Come on.”
Colby kept his arms spread between them until both parties had stopped struggling. David let Charlie go first then Don let Amita’s father go. There was silence in the room.
Amita slowly stepped around David and Charlie and stood in front of her parents. David noted that Don didn’t back off. If Amita’s father twitched Don would be on him.
Amita tried to wipe the tears from her face but they seemed to just keep coming. “Daddy.” Her voice broke. “I’m sorry. I know I wasn’t the son you wanted. I tried. I did everything you wanted. I wanted to make you proud of me. I just couldn’t do this.” Amita’s voice broke again.
Amita’s father opened his mouth. Don grabbed his wrist again. “Before you say or do anything Mr. Ramanujan keep in mind you are addressing a valuable federal asset, a member of my team, and an American citizen and I will not hesitate to throw your ass in jail for assault if you lay so much as a finger on her.” Don let his wrist go.
There was silence again. “Daddy?”
Mr. Ramanujan’s face went cold before he turned and stormed from the room. As he did David caught a whiff of something high proof.
Amita held out a hand to her mother. She opened her mouth as if to say something but then snapped it shut and trotted after her husband.
Amita wrapped her arms around herself and began to sob. In less than a second both Don and Charlie had their arms around her.
“Did you smell that?” David whispered to Colby.
“Yeah, I’m on it.”
“Bring back a Twix bar.” Colby gave David a weird look. “Serious.”
Colby nodded and quickly headed out of the office as Don and Charlie were getting Amita settled onto the couch.
David wasn’t sure what to do. He still felt like he’d been kicked in the guts and seeing Amita’s arms wrapped around Charlie hurt but it also seemed a selfish shadow of pain compared to the wracking sobs coming from Amita’s slim body.
Don rubbed his hand up and down her back while Charlie stroked her head. “It’s okay,” Don said softly. “Just let it out. It’ll be okay.”
Amita cried for several more minutes before trying to scrub at her eyes and sniffing loudly. David pulled his ever present pack of hypoallergenic tissues from his pocket and handed them over.
“Thank you,” she whispered before blowing her nose impressively loud. Don rubbed her back a bit more. Suddenly she turned around and pushed him. “Why didn’t you tell me what happened to Charlie!”
Don put his arms in the air. “I didn’t know you hadn’t been told. I swear. I thought my Dad told you. I thought you’d be the first one he called. I thought you were just avoiding us and I was trying to give you space, I swear. If I’d known you didn’t know I would have told you. Honest.”
Amita scowled at Don then wrapped her arms around herself. “It’s all my fault,” she suddenly sobbed.
Charlie rubbed at her back. “No, no, I told you it’s no ones fault but mine and sort of Don’s but I gave him a black eye and hacked some baby pictures into his personnel file last week, so it’s okay.”
“You what?” Don snapped.
“Don’t worry, I picked the cute ones of you with peace signs painted on your cheeks.”
Don growled, Amita giggled through the tears and David made a metal note to look at Don’s file as soon as possible before Don got the pictures removed.
“I just wanted them to be proud of me.” Amita’s face was still sunken and miserable.
Don took her chin and turned her face towards him. “Hey, you are brilliant. You are hot. You’ve got two Ph.Ds. That’s more than Chuck’s got. You fight crime with the best team in town. If they aren’t proud of you then they are idiots who don’t deserve you crying over them.”
“I’m not married,” Amita choked out.
“So what? It’s the 21st century. I’m not married and Robin turned me down when I asked. Chuck can’t get married by law now. David and Colby? They’re married to the job and are going to end up in the old agents’ home together.”
David would have replied to that if he wasn’t still processing the new knowledge of Don’s failed proposal.
“And,” Don continued. “I’m pretty sure the only way you’re ever getting Warner or Betancourt into a white Vera Wang is if it came with matching thigh holsters. You are still young and beautiful and brilliant, you can still get another doctorate, you can still have a family. Hell you can still have Chuck’s kids though why you’d want to risk that nose breading through...” Charlie reached around Amita and whacked his brother on the side of the head which earned a laugh from Amita who wiped at her eyes.
“Thank you, Don.”
“And if you want a distraction to take your mind off it all I’ve got case files stacking up?”
Before Amita could answer Colby came back into the office his face serious.
“Amita?”
“Yes.”
Colby crouched down in front of Amita and took her hands. “Amita, I need to ask you something.” Colby took a deep breath. “Does... Is your father prone to drinking at all?”
Amita frantically shook her head. “No. No. He stopped. He stopped a long time ago. He promised he stopped. That’s why they went back to India so he’d... stop.” Amita’s face crumpled again.
Colby let out a sigh. “He pulled his rental car out of the lot going the wrong way right in front of a city cop. The cop pulled him over and he blew .13.” Amita pulled her hands away from Colby. “He got a little belligerent and he’s been arrested.”
David had a feeling that wasn’t the whole story but it was certainly being edited for Amita’s sake.
Amita closed her eyes went still. “What about my mother?” she asked softly.
“She said something about jet lag and getting him a lawyer in the morning.”
“I’ll call my lawyer.” Charlie offered and David felt that kicked in the guts feeling come back. This was a man who he’d been on the verge of brawling with minutes earlier but he was Amita’s father so he would do what needed to be done.
Amita shook her head. “No. Don’t bother. The consulate will get him out. They always do. Someone is always cleaning up after him, it shouldn’t be you.”
“Well, he’s being taken down to the Central Pasadena Police station on Garfield.”
Amita shrugged. “He’s made it very clear where I stand in his life. He can sit there.”
Colby took Amita’s hands again. “Okay, look, I loved my father, I respected the hell out of him, he was a soldier and he taught me everything I know about duty and honor and loyalty but he was an alcoholic with a capital A. And the thing is he never tried to stop. He knew he drank. He knew he drank too much and he didn’t care. He just kept on drinking until he screwed up and someone died and even that wasn’t enough. He put his fishing gear and a twelve pack into his truck and he drove up into the mountains and right off a cliff and to this day I don’t know if it was an accident or on purpose. Now right now you have every right to be fucking furious at your father. And you have every right to stay that way for a good long time but at the end of everything, when you’ve got to weigh things up, remember that he at least tried. My father didn’t. Okay?”
Amita tried to nod but her face was twisting with more misery. “He wanted a son,” she squeaked out.
Colby shrugged. “That’s just a standard guy thing, goes up there with the fast car and super model house wife.”
Amita shook her head. “No. The doctors told my Mom she shouldn’t have me. That it might kill her. But they also told my parents that they were going to have a boy. If they were only going to have one child it was supposed to be a boy.” Amita’s voice cracked again. “I did everything they wanted.”
David felt his heart break a little. Don looked furious and Charlie looked close to tears himself but this time it was Colby who pulled Amita in close and held her while she cried some more.
When Amita calmed down Colby reached into his pocket and pulled out the candy David had told him to get. “Twix?”
Amita snatched it and quickly ripped open the package shoving one of the candy sticks into her mouth. “I’m sorry everyone,” she mumbled around the sugar.
Don rubbed her shoulder a bit. “Hey, don’t worry about it. We all have days.”
“What did you guys need anyway?” Amita asked looking around.
“Charlie called us down here to look at something.”
Charlie jumped up. “Oh that’s right, the thing… Um…The thing, the thing. ” Charlie looked at the papers on his desk then grabbed one and held it up in triumph. “Ah! The thing!”
~
David was pacing around his apartment as the sun was going down. He was trying not to be mad. He was trying not to be hurt or to let his imagination run away from him. He was trying to tell himself that he knew what he was getting into with Charlie and it’s not like Charlie had any feelings for him beyond hormonally driven attraction and he should be thankful he was getting that.
He was about to change into sweats and go for a very long, hard run when there was a knock at his door. He knew it was either Colby or Charlie. Most likely Charlie.
He opened the door. Charlie brushed past barely looking at him. “Shit.” Charlie started. “Of all the times those two could have shown up. You think I could have pleaded insanity if I had just broken that idiot’s nose? I mean really.” Charlie looked up at David. “What?”
“Nothing? How’s Amita?”
“She’ll be fine. She’s tougher than she looks. I think a night in the drunk tank will be good for her father though. I mean what scares me is must have driven from the airport to CalSci in that condition. How the hell did he even manage to get a rental in that state? Oh well. One more question to ponder I guess.” Charlie lifted onto his toes to try to give David a kiss. David turned his head away letting the kiss land low on his jaw. Charlie stepped back. “Okay. What have I done?”
“Nothing.”
“Yeah right. I’ve had two long term relationships, I know when I’ve fucked up so how have I fucked up this one?”
David tried to squeeze down the ball of anger and hurt that was just sitting in his chest but it didn’t want to budge. Instead it crept up his throat and started to fall from his lips. “Well you’re implying this is a relationship when I don’t think there’s even a name for whatever this is but certainly not relationship. And it’ll be pretty hard to have a relationship when you’re busy having babies with Amita. But that’s okay, I don’t want to get between you and the woman you still love.” David kicked himself even as the words were coming from his mouth. Charlie’s face twisted up with confusion and David knew he just sounded catty but couldn’t seem to shut himself up.
“I’ve known Amita almost a decade. Longer than I’ve known you by the way and we’re not exactly strangers. No, I am not particularly attracted to her body but I’m not going to stop caring for her or stop loving her over night and may I add you were the one that first pointed this out.”
“And where do I fit in. Your experiment? Your learning tool? A not quite fuck buddy? When I’m holding you are you even thinking of me or am I just some stand in for Jesse Pressman, long lost love?”
David knew he’d crossed a line as Charlie’s face went hard. “Of course I am thinking about you, David.” Charlie’s words were cold and sharp.
“How am I supposed to know that?”
“Well I just told you. This isn’t exactly easy for me, you know?”
“Well it’s not exactly easy for me either. I’ve got your brother breathing down my neck, you come and go as you please expecting I don’t even know what. Someone to get you up to speed or something.”
“Well I’m sorry if I can’t give blow jobs while swinging from the chandeliers like your other men.”
“There are no other men!” David yelled and Charlie stepped back. “I haven’t had a man in my bed since Isaiah was killed. Not one. I haven’t have a date with a man, I haven’t flirted with one. Nothing. And then suddenly you’re there in front of me wanting me to show you things. This. Is. Hard. And if I’m just some sort of learning tool for you I want to know now so I can be braced for it when you wander off with someone better.”
Charlie’s mouth came open and then the anger settled onto his face. “Do you honestly think I’d put myself, in this mental wreck of a condition, into the hands of someone I felt nothing for?”
The part of David’s brain that was actually listening cheered. Charlie felt something for him. Unfortunately the fear was still speaking. “I don’t know. Between you and me I don’t know anything. I don’t know how I’m supposed to act around you. I don’t know if I’m supposed to tell anyone. I don’t know what this is.”
A strange calm seemed to come over Charlie’s face. “Well neither do I. If you figure it out call me.” And with that Charlie walked out.
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