Who We Are (32/35)
Title: Who We Are (32/35)
Author: ladygray99
Rating: PG13
Characters/Pairings: Charlie/David
Word count: 1,570
Warnings/Spoilers: 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. - David comes home.
Previous Chapters: 1 5 10 15 20 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Notes:Written for choc_fic 's 100 Days of Color. This is a short chapter after yesterday and is mainly tidying thing up before the next big thing.
Beta: swingandswirl and riverotter1951
Chapter 32
David stretched his back as he stood in the customs line. Jonathan had taken him out his last night in Tel Aviv with some of his team. Surprisingly there were a couple he knew that had, for their reasons of their own, settled into the office there. They had swapped stories of crazy days when they were all that little bit younger and they all wanted conformation that the LA office had a mad idiot savant genius they kept locked in the basement. David had confirmed that the genius’ name was Charlie and they didn’t keep him locked in the basement it was in fact the garage.
It had been a fun night but it meant David crawled onto his international flight with a hangover. The fact that he didn’t sleep on flights meant by the time they touched down in LAX he had a splitting headache, blocked sinuses, and he could feel the start of a rash, most likely from Jonathan’s laundry detergent.
Customs was reasonably easy, his badge getting him through the worst of it. He trudged out into the arrivals area and turned towards the taxi stands when he was suddenly looking at a familiar face.
“Charlie?”
Charlie smiled. “Hey. Welcome home.”
David looked around. “What are you doing here?”
Charlie shrugged. “Thought I’d give you a lift.”
“I mean how did you know I’d be here?”
Charlie smiled sweetly. “I have my sources. Did you honestly think you could sneak off to the Middle East and not have me find out?”
“Don told you.”
“No he didn’t and I didn’t ask him. Now come on.” Charlie took David’s shoulder bag. “You look dead on your feet. Let me take you home.”
David was dead and too damn tired to wonder about Charlie’s sources that were good enough to know exactly what flight he’d be on.
The hum of the Prius starting up was strangely comforting even if Charlie’s driving wasn’t. The traffic ground to a halt outside the airport. Charlie chuckled. “Welcome back to LA.”
“Yeah.”
Charlie reached across the car and took his hand. David gave it a squeeze, letting himself enjoy the simple touch after so long.
“How have you been?” Charlie asked.
“Sort of all over the place.”
“Feeling better?”
“Probably after 15 hours of sleep. How have you been?”
Charlie shrugged a little. “I’ve been okay. Cases, classes, research, therapy, the usual.”
“Usual can be good.”
“Yeah it can. Amita and I have decided to have a party.”
David looked to Charlie as that had come completely out of the blue. “Um... Okay... Why?”
“Well the venue for the wedding reception demanded a non refundable deposit. So did the caterers. We canceled everything else except for those two things. We had a long talk a couple of days ago and decided we might as well use them. Swap out the champagne for beer, samosas for pizza, and just invite everyone we know. A party for the sake of having a party.”
“That sounds like fun.”
“Well after then last several months we figured a party wouldn’t hurt anyone. We could all stand to cut loose for a night. Maybe get a karaoke machine or something.”
“Karaoke?”
“If you get Don drunk enough he will sing.”
“Can he sing well?”
Charlie grinned. “Nope.” Whatever was holding up the traffic cleared and they started moving again. “Finally. Let’s get you home.”
~
David looked around his apartment. There were empty beer bottles, dishes that were growing things, unwashed laundry and scattered bits of paper.”
“Oh my god. Who is the person who belongs to this mess?”
Charlie laughed.
“It’s not funny.”
“I’m sorry. It’s just that’s almost exactly what Larry said when he saw his office for the first time after leaving the monastery. Of course he didn’t have this many empties.”
“I need to clean.”
“No.” Charlie grabbed his sleeve and dragged him to the bedroom. “You need to sleep. Good long sleep. Then you can clean.”
David found his bedroom in a sorry state as well but the bed looked inviting and he barely noticed Charlie peeling off his shirt, and pulling off his shoes and socks. Then Charlie pushed him onto the bed, tossed the blankets over him and turned out the light.
~
David watched as Isaiah peeled the wrapper from his muffin. The dappled light coming through the cafe windows almost made the painted trees seem real. He sipped his coffee. There was a strange scratching sound coming from somewhere but he ignored it.
Isaiah took a couple of bites of his muffin and sipped his coffee. David had an odd feeling like he was late for something but his coffee wasn’t in a to go cup and Isaiah seemed relaxed.
“It’s really not fair, you know?” Isaiah said after a few more bites of his muffin.
“I know,” David replied but he wasn’t sure why.
“I love this cafe. Best coffee. Best muffins. And no one from the office ever comes here.”
David reached across the table and took Isaiah’s hand. It felt strangely cold. The scratching sound got louder. David could feel his heart starting to race but he wasn’t sure about that either.
“It’s really not fair, David. I can’t stay here much longer, I just can’t.”
“I know.”
Isaiah leaned across the table and kissed him. David could taste bananas and chocolate and coffee. He looked around. Isaiah never kissed him in public but the cafe was empty. “It’s not fair.”
“I love you,” David said his heart trying to pound through his chest. He never said that. He never admitted that. Something was wrong.
“I know. That’s why you buy me muffins.”
“Something’s wrong.”
“Yes it is. I’m way cuter than he is,” Isaiah stated.
“Who?”
Isaiah pointed. David looked over his shoulder. The other wall of the cafe no longer had jungle trees. Instead it was one large chalkboard and Charlie was scratching away at it. Charlie stopped and turned to him. He tilted his head and his face became sad.
“I’m sorry David. It’s basic Newtonian physics. It’s not even the complicated stuff. You can’t just rewrite it.”
David looked back to Isaiah. He was leaning back in his chair, his eyes closed, and his hands wrapped around his cup of coffee. He was smiling softly but was so very still.
David opened his eyes. There was a dull ache in his chest but it no longer felt like a knife, just a bone deep, heavy bruise.
~
David knew Colby was looking at him from the passenger’s seat of the Charger. “Okay. Say whatever it is you want.”
“I was just wondering partner of mine if you were going to tell your partner what the hell has been going on the last few weeks. I mean you acting weird is weird, Don ordering me to keep my distance is weird, you up and god damn vanishing is weird so I think that’s my quota of weird used up for the month.”
David sighed. He’d decided to take a play from Charlie’s book and try to be more honest. It wasn’t easy. “Yeah. Not now. It’s a long story and I’m sober.”
“Okay. So I’ll buy you a beer tomorrow night.”
“I’ll probably cry so I’d appreciate it if you’d respect me in the morning.”
“I’ll do my best, man.”
“Thanks.”
~
David looked up to a tap on the conference room door. He’d moved himself in there so he could spread out the heaps of paperwork he had to catch up on. It was Charlie and he was holding a couple of bags. “I’ve brought you dinner.”
David looked at his watch, it was after eight. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I wanted to.”
David cleared a space as Charlie unpacked a couple of burritos. They ate in mostly silence but it was warm and comfortable.
Charlie was wiping some salsa from his fingers when David took a deep breath. It felt like he was doing this for the first time all over again. “Hey, um... assuming we don’t get slammed with a big case would you like to go out for dinner Friday night?”
Charlie smiled. “Yeah, I’d like that a lot.”
“Pick you up at seven?”
Charlie leaned over and gave David a small kiss at the corner of his mouth. “Seven on the dot.”
~
David sat up in bed. He knew he’d had a dream but it was hazy, the details faded as quickly as he grasped for them. His stumbled to the bathroom to swallow down a couple of Tylenol. Colby had made good and bought him a beer plus a few extra and in return David had spilled his tale of woe.
Colby had been silent for a long time then told him about a girl in Afghanistan with beautiful green eyes who was dragged naked into the street and beaten to death because her brother collaborated with the Americans. David looked at Colby and saw the dark things that were usually kept well hidden behind stupid jokes and a dumb farm boy mask. David had bought the next several rounds and they switched to harder stuff even though they both had work.
David stumbled into his living room. Colby was sprawled across the couch snoring like a two-stroke engine with a bad cylinder. He put the bottle of pills and a glass of water on the coffee table next to Colby’s phone then pulled the blanket from the back of the couch down over him before stumbling back to bed.
~
David knocked on Charlie’s door at the stroke of seven. Charlie opened it already smiling. He quickly slipped out the door much like on their first date. He gave David a quick peck on the lips. “How does Italian sound?”
“Italian sounds great.”
Previous Next
Author: ladygray99
Rating: PG13
Characters/Pairings: Charlie/David
Word count: 1,570
Warnings/Spoilers: 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. - David comes home.
Previous Chapters: 1 5 10 15 20 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Notes:Written for choc_fic 's 100 Days of Color. This is a short chapter after yesterday and is mainly tidying thing up before the next big thing.
Beta: swingandswirl and riverotter1951
Chapter 32
David stretched his back as he stood in the customs line. Jonathan had taken him out his last night in Tel Aviv with some of his team. Surprisingly there were a couple he knew that had, for their reasons of their own, settled into the office there. They had swapped stories of crazy days when they were all that little bit younger and they all wanted conformation that the LA office had a mad idiot savant genius they kept locked in the basement. David had confirmed that the genius’ name was Charlie and they didn’t keep him locked in the basement it was in fact the garage.
It had been a fun night but it meant David crawled onto his international flight with a hangover. The fact that he didn’t sleep on flights meant by the time they touched down in LAX he had a splitting headache, blocked sinuses, and he could feel the start of a rash, most likely from Jonathan’s laundry detergent.
Customs was reasonably easy, his badge getting him through the worst of it. He trudged out into the arrivals area and turned towards the taxi stands when he was suddenly looking at a familiar face.
“Charlie?”
Charlie smiled. “Hey. Welcome home.”
David looked around. “What are you doing here?”
Charlie shrugged. “Thought I’d give you a lift.”
“I mean how did you know I’d be here?”
Charlie smiled sweetly. “I have my sources. Did you honestly think you could sneak off to the Middle East and not have me find out?”
“Don told you.”
“No he didn’t and I didn’t ask him. Now come on.” Charlie took David’s shoulder bag. “You look dead on your feet. Let me take you home.”
David was dead and too damn tired to wonder about Charlie’s sources that were good enough to know exactly what flight he’d be on.
The hum of the Prius starting up was strangely comforting even if Charlie’s driving wasn’t. The traffic ground to a halt outside the airport. Charlie chuckled. “Welcome back to LA.”
“Yeah.”
Charlie reached across the car and took his hand. David gave it a squeeze, letting himself enjoy the simple touch after so long.
“How have you been?” Charlie asked.
“Sort of all over the place.”
“Feeling better?”
“Probably after 15 hours of sleep. How have you been?”
Charlie shrugged a little. “I’ve been okay. Cases, classes, research, therapy, the usual.”
“Usual can be good.”
“Yeah it can. Amita and I have decided to have a party.”
David looked to Charlie as that had come completely out of the blue. “Um... Okay... Why?”
“Well the venue for the wedding reception demanded a non refundable deposit. So did the caterers. We canceled everything else except for those two things. We had a long talk a couple of days ago and decided we might as well use them. Swap out the champagne for beer, samosas for pizza, and just invite everyone we know. A party for the sake of having a party.”
“That sounds like fun.”
“Well after then last several months we figured a party wouldn’t hurt anyone. We could all stand to cut loose for a night. Maybe get a karaoke machine or something.”
“Karaoke?”
“If you get Don drunk enough he will sing.”
“Can he sing well?”
Charlie grinned. “Nope.” Whatever was holding up the traffic cleared and they started moving again. “Finally. Let’s get you home.”
~
David looked around his apartment. There were empty beer bottles, dishes that were growing things, unwashed laundry and scattered bits of paper.”
“Oh my god. Who is the person who belongs to this mess?”
Charlie laughed.
“It’s not funny.”
“I’m sorry. It’s just that’s almost exactly what Larry said when he saw his office for the first time after leaving the monastery. Of course he didn’t have this many empties.”
“I need to clean.”
“No.” Charlie grabbed his sleeve and dragged him to the bedroom. “You need to sleep. Good long sleep. Then you can clean.”
David found his bedroom in a sorry state as well but the bed looked inviting and he barely noticed Charlie peeling off his shirt, and pulling off his shoes and socks. Then Charlie pushed him onto the bed, tossed the blankets over him and turned out the light.
~
David watched as Isaiah peeled the wrapper from his muffin. The dappled light coming through the cafe windows almost made the painted trees seem real. He sipped his coffee. There was a strange scratching sound coming from somewhere but he ignored it.
Isaiah took a couple of bites of his muffin and sipped his coffee. David had an odd feeling like he was late for something but his coffee wasn’t in a to go cup and Isaiah seemed relaxed.
“It’s really not fair, you know?” Isaiah said after a few more bites of his muffin.
“I know,” David replied but he wasn’t sure why.
“I love this cafe. Best coffee. Best muffins. And no one from the office ever comes here.”
David reached across the table and took Isaiah’s hand. It felt strangely cold. The scratching sound got louder. David could feel his heart starting to race but he wasn’t sure about that either.
“It’s really not fair, David. I can’t stay here much longer, I just can’t.”
“I know.”
Isaiah leaned across the table and kissed him. David could taste bananas and chocolate and coffee. He looked around. Isaiah never kissed him in public but the cafe was empty. “It’s not fair.”
“I love you,” David said his heart trying to pound through his chest. He never said that. He never admitted that. Something was wrong.
“I know. That’s why you buy me muffins.”
“Something’s wrong.”
“Yes it is. I’m way cuter than he is,” Isaiah stated.
“Who?”
Isaiah pointed. David looked over his shoulder. The other wall of the cafe no longer had jungle trees. Instead it was one large chalkboard and Charlie was scratching away at it. Charlie stopped and turned to him. He tilted his head and his face became sad.
“I’m sorry David. It’s basic Newtonian physics. It’s not even the complicated stuff. You can’t just rewrite it.”
David looked back to Isaiah. He was leaning back in his chair, his eyes closed, and his hands wrapped around his cup of coffee. He was smiling softly but was so very still.
David opened his eyes. There was a dull ache in his chest but it no longer felt like a knife, just a bone deep, heavy bruise.
~
David knew Colby was looking at him from the passenger’s seat of the Charger. “Okay. Say whatever it is you want.”
“I was just wondering partner of mine if you were going to tell your partner what the hell has been going on the last few weeks. I mean you acting weird is weird, Don ordering me to keep my distance is weird, you up and god damn vanishing is weird so I think that’s my quota of weird used up for the month.”
David sighed. He’d decided to take a play from Charlie’s book and try to be more honest. It wasn’t easy. “Yeah. Not now. It’s a long story and I’m sober.”
“Okay. So I’ll buy you a beer tomorrow night.”
“I’ll probably cry so I’d appreciate it if you’d respect me in the morning.”
“I’ll do my best, man.”
“Thanks.”
~
David looked up to a tap on the conference room door. He’d moved himself in there so he could spread out the heaps of paperwork he had to catch up on. It was Charlie and he was holding a couple of bags. “I’ve brought you dinner.”
David looked at his watch, it was after eight. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I wanted to.”
David cleared a space as Charlie unpacked a couple of burritos. They ate in mostly silence but it was warm and comfortable.
Charlie was wiping some salsa from his fingers when David took a deep breath. It felt like he was doing this for the first time all over again. “Hey, um... assuming we don’t get slammed with a big case would you like to go out for dinner Friday night?”
Charlie smiled. “Yeah, I’d like that a lot.”
“Pick you up at seven?”
Charlie leaned over and gave David a small kiss at the corner of his mouth. “Seven on the dot.”
~
David sat up in bed. He knew he’d had a dream but it was hazy, the details faded as quickly as he grasped for them. His stumbled to the bathroom to swallow down a couple of Tylenol. Colby had made good and bought him a beer plus a few extra and in return David had spilled his tale of woe.
Colby had been silent for a long time then told him about a girl in Afghanistan with beautiful green eyes who was dragged naked into the street and beaten to death because her brother collaborated with the Americans. David looked at Colby and saw the dark things that were usually kept well hidden behind stupid jokes and a dumb farm boy mask. David had bought the next several rounds and they switched to harder stuff even though they both had work.
David stumbled into his living room. Colby was sprawled across the couch snoring like a two-stroke engine with a bad cylinder. He put the bottle of pills and a glass of water on the coffee table next to Colby’s phone then pulled the blanket from the back of the couch down over him before stumbling back to bed.
~
David knocked on Charlie’s door at the stroke of seven. Charlie opened it already smiling. He quickly slipped out the door much like on their first date. He gave David a quick peck on the lips. “How does Italian sound?”
“Italian sounds great.”
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