FIC: The Connections Series, Part 17/?, "The name" (Charlie/Colby, PG-13)
Chapter 17 here. I have to say that I really like this one. In fact, I love all the remain chapter of The Connections Series.
A very special thanks to
mia_dcwut_09 for making the AMAZING Don, Charlie/Colby vid for this chapter. It just... perfect for this fic! :D
Ok, I'll stop rambling now and let you enjoy the chapter. Talk to you soon when you start leaving your wonderful comments. Error, suggestions and more are always welcome. :)
* * *
Title: The name
Series: The Connections Series, Part 17/?
Characters: Charlie/Colby, Don, Alan, David.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: None.
Summary: Don finds out about what's been going on between his brother and Colby. How will he react?
Feedback: Can't wait! :D
Disclaimer: I do not own Numb3rs or anything related to it. But I do own the ideas used for this fic in terms of the story and my OMC-Patrick Garner.
A/N: This fic is connected to my new David/OMC, David/Amita story, "Not thinking about you".
Beta: Thanks to the lovely nahzee .
* * *
Go to Part 16: 95%, PG-13
Go to Part 18: Dying expectations, PG-13
* * *
The Connections Series
Part 17: “The name”
“Do you understand what you did? Do you see how much danger you added to the situation?” Don said to Charlie as his brother went towards the ambulance.
“Yeah.” That was the short response he received from him.
Charlie’s confused face made Don annoyed. “Oh, that’s very good. ‘Yeah’, that all you’re going to say. Charlie, can't you see that you could have died? That anyone of us could have been shot at because of you trying to get Patrick angrier?”
“I said I know, Don! I know that what I did was stupid, and that it put everybody in danger! I don’t need you or anyone to remind me that, I have enough with what’s in my head!” Charlie yelled, and he went to sit far away on the corner of the street.
Don remained silent, his eyes fixed on the street. Alan was by his side, and Don heard him say, “Donnie, did you hear what the kidnapper said when he had Amita, Charlie and Colby on the couch?”
“I don’t know, Dad, he said lots of things. I was busy trying to figure out a way to keep everybody safe.”
“I know… You took that bullet to save Amita, and you should go to the hospital to get it taken out of you, even if you’ve been shot at thousands of times.” Alan was looking at Don with thankful eyes, like he was happy and proud of this oldest son. Don could see they joy in his father’s expression. The FBI agent looked at the bandage an EMT had put around his shoulder until he could get to the hospital to get the bullet out of his body.
“However, I don’t think that she’s fine… at all,” Don muttered, looking at Amita, who was in another ambulance. “I mean, the guy totally tortured her. Do you think that she’ll be able to recover from that?”
“I hope so.”
“I’ll arrange some kind of therapy sessions for her if she wants me to.”
It took Alan a few moments to answer back. He took a breath, crossed his arms and said, “That would be good. But Don, I’m also worried about your brother.”
“I don’t know what the hell is wrong with him. How could he take my gun? He doesn’t even know how to use it!”
“Something is happening to him, Donnie, and I think we both know what that is, after what Patrick Garner said.”
“What do you mean, exactly?” Don felt a little overwhelmed by the fact that his father could get some information from Garner’s words, when he couldn’t find any meaning to it.
“He said that… well…” Alan seemed to have problems to find the right way to speak his mind. “He said that Charlie and Colby got together last night.”
“Yeah… So?” Don didn’t understand. What was the point?
Alan took a deep breath and tried to make himself clear. “Donnie, he said that Colby was the person who separated your brother and Amita… What do you think he was trying to tell us?”
Don held his father’s look for a few moments, trying to figure out what he was saying. When the idea got into his head, he jumped in his place and started to laugh. Maybe it was the stress, maybe it was the fact that he was so tired, but what he was thinking about seemed to be completely stupid. “What? Dad, you think that Charlie… and Colby are… like… together?
”
Alan simply nodded. “That’s exactly what I think.”
“Oh, c’mon! That’s not possible. Charlie’s not… he’s not into guys.”
“Then what other explanation do you have for this entire situation?” Alan wanted to know.
“I don’t have one at the moment, but I swear I’ll find out what’s going on with Charlie. And I don’t think it’s going to have anything to do with Colby in the way you’re suggesting. I know my brother,” Don affirmed, and he got up and went towards Amita, leaving his worried father behind him.
David was beside Amita, and they seemed to be having a tense conversation. “Don,” David said when he saw his boss.
“David,” Don muttered, and then he looked at Amita. “Hey, we’ll have to go to the FBI to make some statements,” he continued, and he avoid talking about the therapy sessions because it didn’t seem to be the best moment to do it.
Amita nodded and got up, leaving the men behind her. “She must be feeling so terrible right now,” Don muttered, watching her go while he ran his fingers over his chin.
He didn’t expect David to say, “And my presence here is not helping her.”
“Why do you say that?”
David shook his head smiling and he said ironically, “There’s no reason, Don. No reason at all.” Then he left Don alone and went to see Colby, who was getting into a car.
There was definitely something very wrong going on that Don was not seeing. He observed the situation that surrounded him. There was chaos, people happy to have a new source of gossip, people afraid that something might happen to them, and there was the mystery of David, Amita, Colby and Charlie.
Suddenly, Don realized that his father was still giving him a very heavy look. But there was no way that he had seen something that Don didn’t. Don knew Colby enough, because he spent more than twelve hours with him at the FBI everyday. And he knew his own brother a lot more… or at least he wanted to think it was that way.
In the bottom of his heart, Don knew that even after four years, he couldn’t tell exactly what kind of things ran through Charlie’s mind. They were still so different from each other, they had almost opposite approaches for the same problems, and they usually got into discussions about how to deal with dangerous situations.
Still, there was no way Don could have not seen that Charlie was gay. But on the other hand, it seemed to be strangely ridiculous that his own father was even considering the possibility. That was the reason why Don was starting to get worried. Alan was completely serious about the issue.
And what if it was actually true? What if Charlie was gay, and Colby was the one person he had chosen to be with? Don didn’t want to think about that now. He had enough already with his house being blown up.
When he, his father, and Charlie got into one of the FBI vehicles and made their way to the FBI to make their statements, Don decided not to talk at all. He needed his mind to remain clear. However, it seemed to be the hardest thing to do at the moment. Every time he saw Charlie on the rear view mirror, his mouth got dry and he felt about to lose control over the vehicle. Besides, he had Alan’s gaze over him sometimes, like his father could see that he was thinking about.
When they got to the FBI, Don had no idea how he had held himself together during what it had seemed to be the longest trip ever. His heart was racing and he found it very difficult to tie up words to create sentences.
He handled making his statement pretty well, anyways. Duty and work were more important than the crazy images about Charlie and Colby that he was seeing in his head.
Minutes passed by and he could relax a little. But then Charlie made his speech about how Patrick Garner’s behavior could be predicted using the appropriate mathematical tool. The way Charlie talked and looked at Colby from time to time was a little weird. The way Colby stared at his papers and played with his pen was odd. Amita seemed to be completely absent, while David shook his head like he was thinking about anything except the present situation. Larry and Megan were definitely tense and it was like they were expecting some kind of fight at any second. And Alan was staring at his youngest son and Charlie's potential lover like he was trying to get a confirmation of his hypothesis.
Luckily, the reunion ended soon, and Don could step outside the office to get some air. He saw David talking to Charlie for a while, and he thought the first one was trying to get some sense into the other one’s head. Charlie shouldn’t grab weapons that he didn’t know the simplest thing about.
Then Don asked Amita if she’d like him to take her home so she could rest a little after everything that had happened. Amita said that she would rather go home alone, but a few minutes later Don saw her get into a car with David. Now things were more than weird. What could they have to do with each other? They were not really close friends, Don could tell.
However, he had to go to the hospital to take the bullet out of him. He did that and when he returned to the FBI, he spent a while drinking coffee at the break-room. It wasn’t the best beverage to drink when he wanted to relax, but relaxing didn’t really seem to be possible right now. Not when he was surrounded by people who worked with him and kept secrets from him at the same time.
After half an hour of deep thinking, Don decided that he needed to start his own investigation about what was going on. He was about to get to a computer when he realized that he had forgotten his badge at the office. He had to return to it to get it, but he stopped at the door when he heard his brother’s voice inside the office.
Charlie was facing the opposite direction, making a phone call. “I’ve decided that… I’d like to give us a second chance.”
Don immediately assumed that he was talking to Amita. He smiled thinking that Charlie hadn’t lost all perspective, that Alan was wrong, that his brother was straight and that everything could go back to normal.
“I’ve thinking a lot and I realized that there’s something really meaningful between us. And I don’t want to waste it. I want to live it. I want to… be… with you.”
Don smiled even more, hoping that someday Charlie and Amita got married and started a new family. He giggled at the thought of Alan when he finally got his grandchildren.
“It’s… perfect! I’ll be there, I promise. I’ll go home to fix some stuff and help my family to organize what we’ll do about the damages, and then we’ll talk.”
After hearing those words, Don had the urge to enter the office and tell Charlie that he would take care of everything. He would also encourage his brother to go get Amita back. Finding the secret could wait a little if Charlie was actually trying to get himself together again.
“I really want to see the look on your face when you actually hear me say everything I want to tell you,” Charlie muttered, and he was glowing. “I don’t know… That you are the most important person in my life right now… That I don’t want to be without you ever again… That there’s so much for us to do together yet…”
Way to go, brother. You’re not as geeky as I thought. You know a little about what women like to hear from their lovers… Now Don was determined to enter the room as soon as Charlie ended his phone call, just to hug him and congratulate him for making such a good decision.
He put a hand on the door, and then… he heard the name.
“I’ll be there, Colby. I promise.”
Don froze, still holding the door, and stared at Charlie. His brother was closing his phone…
Colby.
Still in shock, Don waited two minutes and then he entered the office and looked at Charlie, who was getting ready to leave after grabbing his stuff.
Charlie turned around and saw him. He seemed to think Don hadn’t heard anything because he had ended his phone call a few minutes ago. He was smiling, and his cheeks were soft pink. His older brother swallowed at the thought of what had been the reason for Charlie to be so happy.
“Don, are you ok?” Charlie asked, and he looked at Don’s shoulder. “Did you take that bullet out?”
It took a moment for Don’s brain-cells to make synapses again. “Yeah, yeah… I… I promised Dad that I would do it.” His voice was trembling and weird and he was definitely uncomfortable.
“Ok, we should go home, then,” Charlie announced, “There’s so much to do in the house.”
“Sure, sure. I’ll… I’ll tell Dad,” Don mumbled.
When Charlie got out of the room, Don kept his eyes on him. How could this be possible? How could Charlie… be gay? When had that happened? Did Colby feel the same? Probably. If not, then why did they have that fight at the house?
Something that Patrick Garner had said, and that his father had repeated that morning came to Don’s mind.
“Last night, in this very house, these two men spent their first night together…”
Their first night together. The thoughts of what that could really mean overwhelmed Don and he needed to sit down. When he did, his skin was burning and he felt dizzy again.
So that’s why Charlie grabbed my gun. To save Colby and Amita because he liked him and he felt guilty about leaving her for another guy. Don started to make connections between the last events he had witnessed, and now things were clearer than before.
When he got out of the FBI and walked towards his father, he just swallowed. “Don, are you ok?” Alan asked him, and Don said something about the bullet wound hurting like hell.
Still, Don insisted on being the one to drive the car. Even if his injuries were deep severe, he needed to focus on the road, on the traffic lights, on the buses, on anything except the hopeful look in his brother’s eyes.
But as minutes passed by, he realized that he was getting frustrated and mad. He found himself consciously watching Charlie smile on the rear mirror. Don hold a firm grip on the wheel, and his father seemed to realize what he was going through because Alan suddenly said, “Donnie, calm down, please.”
When they got to the house, Don got out of the car first and closed its door with more energy than was needed.
“Don, are you ok?” Charlie wanted to know.
“I don’t know, Charlie, I don’t know,” Don responded, and he got inside what was left of the house, which was surrounded by “Police do not cross” bands. He could hear Charlie asking his father what was happening to Don, and then Alan saying that Don should be the one to talk to him about it when the right time came.
The three of them started to collect the pieces of their coffee mugs, their photographs, the little pieces of wood from their furniture. They spent an hour trying to fix some of their things, and then they got together in the kitchen to have a pizza for lunch.
“I’m going to see if I can fix some of the original Margaret pictures upstairs,” Alan suddenly said, and he made a signal to Don that he was expecting him to stay calm.
Don ate his piece of pizza and mumbled some words when Charlie asked him if he was feeling better after the bullet had been removed from his body. Finally, Charlie went to grab his stuff and asked Don to tell Alan that he had to go out for a couple of hours.
It was obvious what Charlie was going to do. Don watched him into the living room and followed him. There, he crossed his arms and looked at the floor. When he lifted his gaze, Charlie was about to leave the house. “Are you going back with Colby?”
Charlie froze in his place and it took him a second to turn around. He looked terrified and he was starting to sweat. “What?”
Silence.
“You heard what I asked you, Charlie. Are you going back with Colby? ‘Cause I heard you say that he’s the most important person in your life right now.”
Charlie swallowed and he seemed to be about to faint.
“I mean, you took my gun to save him. That means something.”
“You took a bullet to save Amita.”
“I risk my life for others all the time, it’s no big deal. But you, Charlie... You never did that for anyone,” Don said, very sure of himself. He needed to speak his mind before he went crazy. “So? Do you love him?”
In his place, Charlie swallowed again and he finally admitted it. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know.”
“Yeah, I don’t know. I just know that I like him a lot and that I’d like to see what could happen between us.”
“Um… ok.”
That “ok” didn’t seem to be ok at all. Charlie stared at Don for a moment and then he said, “Do you have a problem with me being with Colby?”
Don shook his head. “Of course I do! When the hell did you become this person, Charlie? The one who doesn’t like women, the one who doesn’t tell his own brother that he’s gay, the one who goes around taking people’s guns!”
“Because I knew you’d react like this!” Charlie yelled, and he grabbed his head. “I knew it, I knew it, damn it!” Charlie seemed to want to rip his own hair out of his head. His cheeks were red and he was starting to cry.
Still, even if he didn’t like to see Charlie cry, Don had to make a point. “Oh, thank you very much, Charlie! Does that mean that you think that your brother is an insensitive person that is not able to understand you?”
“Well, you’re not exactly making this easy, Don!”
Don had to admit that he was right. He ran a hand over his face, and then he said, “Ok, ok… Can we start over, please? I didn’t mean to hurt you, buddy… The thing is that I don’t get how all of this happened in so little time, and why you didn’t tell me…”
Tired of talking, Charlie cut him off. “No. No. Just… you’ve done enough already. I need to be alone,” he muttered, “It took me so much time to make the right decision to be with him, and now you say all that to me…” He went towards the door, and before leaving, he turned around one last time. “You asked me if I loved him. What do you know about love, Don? You’ve had hundreds of girlfriends, and do you see any woman here to take care of your wounds? ‘Cause I don’t.”
Charlie left his brother speechless and got out of the house. Don suddenly heard the car’s engine being turned on. He ran outside and found Charlie inside the vehicle. He got really scared that something could happen to his brother because he was really out of control at the moment. “Charlie! Charlie, you know you can’t drive like that! In fact, you can’t drive at all!” Don yelled at him, but he was completely ignored.
Charlie couldn’t use the car, anyways. It didn’t want to start, and Don saw his brother got out of it and ran to the streets. “Charlie! Charlie, come back!” Don begged him, but Charlie didn’t look back and just kept running.
Charlie’s figure disappeared around the corner, and the neighborhood become as silent as it had been before Don and Charlie’s screams. A couple of old ladies who where walking by stared at Don for a moment because they had obviously heard the discussion, and he just hated the fact that after the explosion, this would get to be another source for people’s gossip.
When he returned to the house, he found his father downstairs, looking at him with worried eyes. “Don, what have you done?”
Don took a deep breath and ran his hands over his tired face. “I wasn’t thinking, Dad. I just… wasn’t thinking. I did everything wrong. But I can’t understand him, you know? He was with Amita, and not suddenly he’s with Colby? How can someone change so much in like two months? And how could I not notice what he was going through?”
“Some issues are so intimate that no one can know about them but you.”
“But you knew,” Don said. He sounded frustrated.
“I’m the father. I always know everything about my sons,” Alan responded, and he seemed to be very serious. “And you, as the good brother I know you are, should not try to get the reasons out of him, or try to know everything in advance. Understanding someone doesn’t mean to be able to follow every single decision the person makes. It means to accept those decisions and let the person be. We all act trying to achieve what we think it’s best for ourselves. So what if this is what Charlie wants? Would that be so bad?”
Alan’s advice left Don speechless. However, he managed to say a minute later, “So you’re ok with this.”
It was obvious what that opinion was, considering what Alan had said before. “It took me all morning to process it, but I realized that as long as he’s happy, I’m ok with anything he decides to do,” Don’s father said, and then he gave him one of his wise-man looks. “Donnie, you need to talk to your brother. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Yes, Dad, I know what you mean.”
“And you have to tell him that you’ll keep his secret from the FBI and anyone who can put his career in danger.”
“Of course. I’d do that and more for Charlie, Dad. You know that.”
A moment of silence.
“Is he going to see Colby?” Alan wanted to know.
“I don’t know. I suppose he is. I heard them talking over the phone. They were going to meet anyway today.”
“I see.”
“Yeah,” Don whispered, and he felt a little less guilty when his father lovingly patted his shoulder. He remained at the front door thinking about what he had said and done, and trying to get the courage to not judge Charlie anymore.
* * *
The song I chose for this chapter
Greeley Estates - "Secret"
And this is the lovely video made by
mia_dcwut_09 that I told you about... Enjoy. :D
anuncios gratis
A very special thanks to
mia_dcwut_09 for making the AMAZING Don, Charlie/Colby vid for this chapter. It just... perfect for this fic! :D
Ok, I'll stop rambling now and let you enjoy the chapter. Talk to you soon when you start leaving your wonderful comments. Error, suggestions and more are always welcome. :)
* * *
Title: The name
Series: The Connections Series, Part 17/?
Characters: Charlie/Colby, Don, Alan, David.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: None.
Summary: Don finds out about what's been going on between his brother and Colby. How will he react?
Feedback: Can't wait! :D
Disclaimer: I do not own Numb3rs or anything related to it. But I do own the ideas used for this fic in terms of the story and my OMC-Patrick Garner.
A/N: This fic is connected to my new David/OMC, David/Amita story, "Not thinking about you".
Beta: Thanks to the lovely nahzee .
* * *
Go to Part 16: 95%, PG-13
Go to Part 18: Dying expectations, PG-13
* * *
The Connections Series
Part 17: “The name”
“Do you understand what you did? Do you see how much danger you added to the situation?” Don said to Charlie as his brother went towards the ambulance.
“Yeah.” That was the short response he received from him.
Charlie’s confused face made Don annoyed. “Oh, that’s very good. ‘Yeah’, that all you’re going to say. Charlie, can't you see that you could have died? That anyone of us could have been shot at because of you trying to get Patrick angrier?”
“I said I know, Don! I know that what I did was stupid, and that it put everybody in danger! I don’t need you or anyone to remind me that, I have enough with what’s in my head!” Charlie yelled, and he went to sit far away on the corner of the street.
Don remained silent, his eyes fixed on the street. Alan was by his side, and Don heard him say, “Donnie, did you hear what the kidnapper said when he had Amita, Charlie and Colby on the couch?”
“I don’t know, Dad, he said lots of things. I was busy trying to figure out a way to keep everybody safe.”
“I know… You took that bullet to save Amita, and you should go to the hospital to get it taken out of you, even if you’ve been shot at thousands of times.” Alan was looking at Don with thankful eyes, like he was happy and proud of this oldest son. Don could see they joy in his father’s expression. The FBI agent looked at the bandage an EMT had put around his shoulder until he could get to the hospital to get the bullet out of his body.
“However, I don’t think that she’s fine… at all,” Don muttered, looking at Amita, who was in another ambulance. “I mean, the guy totally tortured her. Do you think that she’ll be able to recover from that?”
“I hope so.”
“I’ll arrange some kind of therapy sessions for her if she wants me to.”
It took Alan a few moments to answer back. He took a breath, crossed his arms and said, “That would be good. But Don, I’m also worried about your brother.”
“I don’t know what the hell is wrong with him. How could he take my gun? He doesn’t even know how to use it!”
“Something is happening to him, Donnie, and I think we both know what that is, after what Patrick Garner said.”
“What do you mean, exactly?” Don felt a little overwhelmed by the fact that his father could get some information from Garner’s words, when he couldn’t find any meaning to it.
“He said that… well…” Alan seemed to have problems to find the right way to speak his mind. “He said that Charlie and Colby got together last night.”
“Yeah… So?” Don didn’t understand. What was the point?
Alan took a deep breath and tried to make himself clear. “Donnie, he said that Colby was the person who separated your brother and Amita… What do you think he was trying to tell us?”
Don held his father’s look for a few moments, trying to figure out what he was saying. When the idea got into his head, he jumped in his place and started to laugh. Maybe it was the stress, maybe it was the fact that he was so tired, but what he was thinking about seemed to be completely stupid. “What? Dad, you think that Charlie… and Colby are… like… together?
”
Alan simply nodded. “That’s exactly what I think.”
“Oh, c’mon! That’s not possible. Charlie’s not… he’s not into guys.”
“Then what other explanation do you have for this entire situation?” Alan wanted to know.
“I don’t have one at the moment, but I swear I’ll find out what’s going on with Charlie. And I don’t think it’s going to have anything to do with Colby in the way you’re suggesting. I know my brother,” Don affirmed, and he got up and went towards Amita, leaving his worried father behind him.
David was beside Amita, and they seemed to be having a tense conversation. “Don,” David said when he saw his boss.
“David,” Don muttered, and then he looked at Amita. “Hey, we’ll have to go to the FBI to make some statements,” he continued, and he avoid talking about the therapy sessions because it didn’t seem to be the best moment to do it.
Amita nodded and got up, leaving the men behind her. “She must be feeling so terrible right now,” Don muttered, watching her go while he ran his fingers over his chin.
He didn’t expect David to say, “And my presence here is not helping her.”
“Why do you say that?”
David shook his head smiling and he said ironically, “There’s no reason, Don. No reason at all.” Then he left Don alone and went to see Colby, who was getting into a car.
There was definitely something very wrong going on that Don was not seeing. He observed the situation that surrounded him. There was chaos, people happy to have a new source of gossip, people afraid that something might happen to them, and there was the mystery of David, Amita, Colby and Charlie.
Suddenly, Don realized that his father was still giving him a very heavy look. But there was no way that he had seen something that Don didn’t. Don knew Colby enough, because he spent more than twelve hours with him at the FBI everyday. And he knew his own brother a lot more… or at least he wanted to think it was that way.
In the bottom of his heart, Don knew that even after four years, he couldn’t tell exactly what kind of things ran through Charlie’s mind. They were still so different from each other, they had almost opposite approaches for the same problems, and they usually got into discussions about how to deal with dangerous situations.
Still, there was no way Don could have not seen that Charlie was gay. But on the other hand, it seemed to be strangely ridiculous that his own father was even considering the possibility. That was the reason why Don was starting to get worried. Alan was completely serious about the issue.
And what if it was actually true? What if Charlie was gay, and Colby was the one person he had chosen to be with? Don didn’t want to think about that now. He had enough already with his house being blown up.
When he, his father, and Charlie got into one of the FBI vehicles and made their way to the FBI to make their statements, Don decided not to talk at all. He needed his mind to remain clear. However, it seemed to be the hardest thing to do at the moment. Every time he saw Charlie on the rear view mirror, his mouth got dry and he felt about to lose control over the vehicle. Besides, he had Alan’s gaze over him sometimes, like his father could see that he was thinking about.
When they got to the FBI, Don had no idea how he had held himself together during what it had seemed to be the longest trip ever. His heart was racing and he found it very difficult to tie up words to create sentences.
He handled making his statement pretty well, anyways. Duty and work were more important than the crazy images about Charlie and Colby that he was seeing in his head.
Minutes passed by and he could relax a little. But then Charlie made his speech about how Patrick Garner’s behavior could be predicted using the appropriate mathematical tool. The way Charlie talked and looked at Colby from time to time was a little weird. The way Colby stared at his papers and played with his pen was odd. Amita seemed to be completely absent, while David shook his head like he was thinking about anything except the present situation. Larry and Megan were definitely tense and it was like they were expecting some kind of fight at any second. And Alan was staring at his youngest son and Charlie's potential lover like he was trying to get a confirmation of his hypothesis.
Luckily, the reunion ended soon, and Don could step outside the office to get some air. He saw David talking to Charlie for a while, and he thought the first one was trying to get some sense into the other one’s head. Charlie shouldn’t grab weapons that he didn’t know the simplest thing about.
Then Don asked Amita if she’d like him to take her home so she could rest a little after everything that had happened. Amita said that she would rather go home alone, but a few minutes later Don saw her get into a car with David. Now things were more than weird. What could they have to do with each other? They were not really close friends, Don could tell.
However, he had to go to the hospital to take the bullet out of him. He did that and when he returned to the FBI, he spent a while drinking coffee at the break-room. It wasn’t the best beverage to drink when he wanted to relax, but relaxing didn’t really seem to be possible right now. Not when he was surrounded by people who worked with him and kept secrets from him at the same time.
After half an hour of deep thinking, Don decided that he needed to start his own investigation about what was going on. He was about to get to a computer when he realized that he had forgotten his badge at the office. He had to return to it to get it, but he stopped at the door when he heard his brother’s voice inside the office.
Charlie was facing the opposite direction, making a phone call. “I’ve decided that… I’d like to give us a second chance.”
Don immediately assumed that he was talking to Amita. He smiled thinking that Charlie hadn’t lost all perspective, that Alan was wrong, that his brother was straight and that everything could go back to normal.
“I’ve thinking a lot and I realized that there’s something really meaningful between us. And I don’t want to waste it. I want to live it. I want to… be… with you.”
Don smiled even more, hoping that someday Charlie and Amita got married and started a new family. He giggled at the thought of Alan when he finally got his grandchildren.
“It’s… perfect! I’ll be there, I promise. I’ll go home to fix some stuff and help my family to organize what we’ll do about the damages, and then we’ll talk.”
After hearing those words, Don had the urge to enter the office and tell Charlie that he would take care of everything. He would also encourage his brother to go get Amita back. Finding the secret could wait a little if Charlie was actually trying to get himself together again.
“I really want to see the look on your face when you actually hear me say everything I want to tell you,” Charlie muttered, and he was glowing. “I don’t know… That you are the most important person in my life right now… That I don’t want to be without you ever again… That there’s so much for us to do together yet…”
Way to go, brother. You’re not as geeky as I thought. You know a little about what women like to hear from their lovers… Now Don was determined to enter the room as soon as Charlie ended his phone call, just to hug him and congratulate him for making such a good decision.
He put a hand on the door, and then… he heard the name.
“I’ll be there, Colby. I promise.”
Don froze, still holding the door, and stared at Charlie. His brother was closing his phone…
Colby.
Still in shock, Don waited two minutes and then he entered the office and looked at Charlie, who was getting ready to leave after grabbing his stuff.
Charlie turned around and saw him. He seemed to think Don hadn’t heard anything because he had ended his phone call a few minutes ago. He was smiling, and his cheeks were soft pink. His older brother swallowed at the thought of what had been the reason for Charlie to be so happy.
“Don, are you ok?” Charlie asked, and he looked at Don’s shoulder. “Did you take that bullet out?”
It took a moment for Don’s brain-cells to make synapses again. “Yeah, yeah… I… I promised Dad that I would do it.” His voice was trembling and weird and he was definitely uncomfortable.
“Ok, we should go home, then,” Charlie announced, “There’s so much to do in the house.”
“Sure, sure. I’ll… I’ll tell Dad,” Don mumbled.
When Charlie got out of the room, Don kept his eyes on him. How could this be possible? How could Charlie… be gay? When had that happened? Did Colby feel the same? Probably. If not, then why did they have that fight at the house?
Something that Patrick Garner had said, and that his father had repeated that morning came to Don’s mind.
“Last night, in this very house, these two men spent their first night together…”
Their first night together. The thoughts of what that could really mean overwhelmed Don and he needed to sit down. When he did, his skin was burning and he felt dizzy again.
So that’s why Charlie grabbed my gun. To save Colby and Amita because he liked him and he felt guilty about leaving her for another guy. Don started to make connections between the last events he had witnessed, and now things were clearer than before.
When he got out of the FBI and walked towards his father, he just swallowed. “Don, are you ok?” Alan asked him, and Don said something about the bullet wound hurting like hell.
Still, Don insisted on being the one to drive the car. Even if his injuries were deep severe, he needed to focus on the road, on the traffic lights, on the buses, on anything except the hopeful look in his brother’s eyes.
But as minutes passed by, he realized that he was getting frustrated and mad. He found himself consciously watching Charlie smile on the rear mirror. Don hold a firm grip on the wheel, and his father seemed to realize what he was going through because Alan suddenly said, “Donnie, calm down, please.”
When they got to the house, Don got out of the car first and closed its door with more energy than was needed.
“Don, are you ok?” Charlie wanted to know.
“I don’t know, Charlie, I don’t know,” Don responded, and he got inside what was left of the house, which was surrounded by “Police do not cross” bands. He could hear Charlie asking his father what was happening to Don, and then Alan saying that Don should be the one to talk to him about it when the right time came.
The three of them started to collect the pieces of their coffee mugs, their photographs, the little pieces of wood from their furniture. They spent an hour trying to fix some of their things, and then they got together in the kitchen to have a pizza for lunch.
“I’m going to see if I can fix some of the original Margaret pictures upstairs,” Alan suddenly said, and he made a signal to Don that he was expecting him to stay calm.
Don ate his piece of pizza and mumbled some words when Charlie asked him if he was feeling better after the bullet had been removed from his body. Finally, Charlie went to grab his stuff and asked Don to tell Alan that he had to go out for a couple of hours.
It was obvious what Charlie was going to do. Don watched him into the living room and followed him. There, he crossed his arms and looked at the floor. When he lifted his gaze, Charlie was about to leave the house. “Are you going back with Colby?”
Charlie froze in his place and it took him a second to turn around. He looked terrified and he was starting to sweat. “What?”
Silence.
“You heard what I asked you, Charlie. Are you going back with Colby? ‘Cause I heard you say that he’s the most important person in your life right now.”
Charlie swallowed and he seemed to be about to faint.
“I mean, you took my gun to save him. That means something.”
“You took a bullet to save Amita.”
“I risk my life for others all the time, it’s no big deal. But you, Charlie... You never did that for anyone,” Don said, very sure of himself. He needed to speak his mind before he went crazy. “So? Do you love him?”
In his place, Charlie swallowed again and he finally admitted it. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know.”
“Yeah, I don’t know. I just know that I like him a lot and that I’d like to see what could happen between us.”
“Um… ok.”
That “ok” didn’t seem to be ok at all. Charlie stared at Don for a moment and then he said, “Do you have a problem with me being with Colby?”
Don shook his head. “Of course I do! When the hell did you become this person, Charlie? The one who doesn’t like women, the one who doesn’t tell his own brother that he’s gay, the one who goes around taking people’s guns!”
“Because I knew you’d react like this!” Charlie yelled, and he grabbed his head. “I knew it, I knew it, damn it!” Charlie seemed to want to rip his own hair out of his head. His cheeks were red and he was starting to cry.
Still, even if he didn’t like to see Charlie cry, Don had to make a point. “Oh, thank you very much, Charlie! Does that mean that you think that your brother is an insensitive person that is not able to understand you?”
“Well, you’re not exactly making this easy, Don!”
Don had to admit that he was right. He ran a hand over his face, and then he said, “Ok, ok… Can we start over, please? I didn’t mean to hurt you, buddy… The thing is that I don’t get how all of this happened in so little time, and why you didn’t tell me…”
Tired of talking, Charlie cut him off. “No. No. Just… you’ve done enough already. I need to be alone,” he muttered, “It took me so much time to make the right decision to be with him, and now you say all that to me…” He went towards the door, and before leaving, he turned around one last time. “You asked me if I loved him. What do you know about love, Don? You’ve had hundreds of girlfriends, and do you see any woman here to take care of your wounds? ‘Cause I don’t.”
Charlie left his brother speechless and got out of the house. Don suddenly heard the car’s engine being turned on. He ran outside and found Charlie inside the vehicle. He got really scared that something could happen to his brother because he was really out of control at the moment. “Charlie! Charlie, you know you can’t drive like that! In fact, you can’t drive at all!” Don yelled at him, but he was completely ignored.
Charlie couldn’t use the car, anyways. It didn’t want to start, and Don saw his brother got out of it and ran to the streets. “Charlie! Charlie, come back!” Don begged him, but Charlie didn’t look back and just kept running.
Charlie’s figure disappeared around the corner, and the neighborhood become as silent as it had been before Don and Charlie’s screams. A couple of old ladies who where walking by stared at Don for a moment because they had obviously heard the discussion, and he just hated the fact that after the explosion, this would get to be another source for people’s gossip.
When he returned to the house, he found his father downstairs, looking at him with worried eyes. “Don, what have you done?”
Don took a deep breath and ran his hands over his tired face. “I wasn’t thinking, Dad. I just… wasn’t thinking. I did everything wrong. But I can’t understand him, you know? He was with Amita, and not suddenly he’s with Colby? How can someone change so much in like two months? And how could I not notice what he was going through?”
“Some issues are so intimate that no one can know about them but you.”
“But you knew,” Don said. He sounded frustrated.
“I’m the father. I always know everything about my sons,” Alan responded, and he seemed to be very serious. “And you, as the good brother I know you are, should not try to get the reasons out of him, or try to know everything in advance. Understanding someone doesn’t mean to be able to follow every single decision the person makes. It means to accept those decisions and let the person be. We all act trying to achieve what we think it’s best for ourselves. So what if this is what Charlie wants? Would that be so bad?”
Alan’s advice left Don speechless. However, he managed to say a minute later, “So you’re ok with this.”
It was obvious what that opinion was, considering what Alan had said before. “It took me all morning to process it, but I realized that as long as he’s happy, I’m ok with anything he decides to do,” Don’s father said, and then he gave him one of his wise-man looks. “Donnie, you need to talk to your brother. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Yes, Dad, I know what you mean.”
“And you have to tell him that you’ll keep his secret from the FBI and anyone who can put his career in danger.”
“Of course. I’d do that and more for Charlie, Dad. You know that.”
A moment of silence.
“Is he going to see Colby?” Alan wanted to know.
“I don’t know. I suppose he is. I heard them talking over the phone. They were going to meet anyway today.”
“I see.”
“Yeah,” Don whispered, and he felt a little less guilty when his father lovingly patted his shoulder. He remained at the front door thinking about what he had said and done, and trying to get the courage to not judge Charlie anymore.
* * *
The song I chose for this chapter
Greeley Estates - "Secret"
And this is the lovely video made by
mia_dcwut_09 that I told you about... Enjoy. :D
Click to viewanuncios gratis