FIC: The Connections Series, Part 22/23, "The right to judge" (Charlie/Colby, PG-13)
Only one more to go. Ahhh. *sigh* Well, I was able to make the video for this chapter. :)
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Title: The right to judge
Series: The Connections Series, Part 22/23
Characters: Charlie/Colby, Don, Alan
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: None.
Summary: Don and Alan tell Charlie and Colby what they think of their new relationship.
Feedback: I would be so happy if I could get to know what you lovely readers think. :)
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 OCs.
Author's note: I'm still having problems with the POV thing. I tried to fix any mistakes related to that, but if you find any, it's absolutely mine. :)
Beta: The always amazing irena_adler. You rock.
* * *
Go to Part 21: Embracing the connection, R
Go to Part 23: No matter what, PG-13 (Last chapter of this series!)
* * *
The Connections Series
Part 22: “The right to judge”
Two hours of deep thinking didn’t give Don an answer about what to do about Charlie. The only thing he knew for sure was that he was still so very surprised about the news.
He just couldn’t believe it. He didn’t understand how everything had happened in front of his eyes. The memories of Charlie and Colby being together in the same room while Charlie talked about the way math could be applied to actual criminal cases overwhelmed Don too much. He wondered for how long Charlie and Colby had been into each other.
He knew that he still had his father’s eyes on him. Alan was seated on a chair, reading the newspaper, very close to him. Don couldn’t stand being there, knowing that Alan was worried about him and that he was probably expecting him to just accept that his brother had chosen a man as a partner.
But that was only one of the weird things that Don couldn’t stop thinking about. The fact that Colby had turned out to be the person Charlie had wanted to be with had simply shocked him. The agent had always seemed to be so strong and normal, and now it had turned out that he was attracted to Don’s little brother.
Charlie had replaced Amita for him. That had to be the reason why she and Charlie had their fight at the FBI. That had to be the reason why she wanted to leave to India. And it had to have been terrible for her having to be in the same room as both men the night before.
Thankfully, David would support her and give her advice. They had left the FBI together a couple of hours ago, and probably headed towards her apartment so she could rest for a while. It surely was going to take her a long time to recover from everything she had been through.
Feeling tired, Don sat beside his father. He ran his palms over his head and took a deep breath.
Alan, who was watching him closely, set down his newspaper and took off his glasses. He looked at Margaret’s picture, which was next to him on another chair. He took it and muttered, “She would be happy.”
“What?” Don asked, because he had been lost in his own thoughts.
“I said that she would be happy.” Alan ran his fingers over the picture, and Don stared at the gesture in silence. “No matter what Charlie chose, as long as he’d be happy.”
Again, Don took a deep breath. “I know.”
It was time to have a serious talk. “Donnie, I don’t know what’s going on inside your head, but I do know that you truly love your brother.”
“Of course I love him, Dad. The thing is that I don’t understand him. And I remember what you said to me earlier, that I shouldn’t want to get it all, but this is just… so shocking.”
This time Alan remained in silence.
“And the fact that Colby likes him… I mean, I never noticed anything weird between them. I should have seen it, given that I’m Charlie’s brother. I should have realized what was going on.”
Don was devastated and he felt relieved when Alan put a hand on his shoulder. “But it’s out. We all know about the fact that they like each other. Charlie and Colby are adults and they are free to do whatever they feel it’s best for them. What can we do but deal with it and go on with our lives?”
Don stared at him, skeptical. “You seem so accepting. What about your beloved future grandchildren?”
“I’ve given up when it comes to Charlie. I want him to be happy, not to follow the desires of his father. I would never forgive myself if he would choose something just because of me.”
Those words got to Don’s head and heart. “I guess you’re right. I always forget that Charlie’s not that little anymore.”
Alan smiled. “The same happens to me when I think about the two of you, boys,” he said, but then he became serious one more time. “Think about it, Donnie. Would it be so bad if the person who could make Charlie happy was Colby? I mean, you know him. You know you can trust him. He served his country well. He’s a good man.”
Don listened to his father and started to consider the ideas. Alan was right about everything. Colby had proved to be a nice, honest, reliable person anyone could lean on.
“Charlie chose well, and it doesn’t really matter if that person is a man or a woman,” Alan concluded.
During the next moments, Don wondered if he had the right to judge Charlie. He had never made very good decisions when it came to his love life. The list of names of the women he had dated and separated from was overwhelming. He wasn’t an authority in the relationships area, so he couldn’t really know for sure if Charlie was doing the right thing or not.
Only one thing was certain. Charlie had never been so sure about anything before, not even when he still was Amita’s boyfriend. And yet, now that he was interested in Colby, Charlie had stood up to Don and defended what he felt.
“Do you think that he and Colby will get along again? They didn’t look very happy today,” Don said, starting to relax at the idea of his brother starting to take control of his own feelings and his life.
“Of course. I mean, did you actually listen to your brother when you were both fighting? He was determined to not let Colby go. I’m sure he’ll do anything that takes to get him back.”
Now Don relaxed at Alan’s smile, and, smiling himself, he put his hands on the back of his head, arching his back. “I hope Colby doesn’t give him a hard time.” He looked at his father with warm eyes.
Alan stared at him in amusement, his smile getting wider. He seemed to know that Don was finally ok with Charlie’s decision, even if it hard been hard for him to accept it. He lovingly squeezed Don’s shoulder.
And right then, Charlie stepped into the house. He stopped when he saw his father and Don talking and holding his mother’s picture. “Hello…” he muttered, and he sounded a little too formal because he was there to discuss a very serious issue that had changed his whole life.
“Charlie,” Alan muttered.
“I want to talk to you, Dad,” Charlie said, “Alone.”
Don slowly got up and went upstairs, but he hid so he could hear what Charlie was saying to his father and see what they were doing.
So then Charlie pulled out of his jacket the one photograph Colby wanted to restore. He sat where Don had been seconds ago, and showed the picture of Margaret to his father.
Alan simply took it and held both pictures together. “I was looking for this.”
Charlie took a breath and said, “Um… Colby took it this morning.”
“Ok, but why?”
“He wanted to restore it and give it back to us…, to me.”
Alan looked at the picture Charlie had taken with him to the house, and he smiled. “That’s nice.”
“Yeah, I think it is.” Charlie’s voice was starting to tremble. “Dad, listen. There’s something you have to know… although maybe you’ve already noticed it…”
“Yeah… you and Agent Granger.”
Charlie nodded and waited for an answer.
“Charlie, it’s ok. It’s ok that Colby is the one you chose. And you shouldn’t let anyone make you change your mind.”
Charlie was crying. Things were going so well so far, after all the conflict that had taken over everybody’s lives lately.
But still, he asked, “I know that, but what about Don? He doesn’t understand.”
“Yeah, and he’ll probably never understand, but I know that he will support you. He loves you. He’ll always be there for you.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“Charlie…”
Suddenly, Don went downstairs and talked in serious tone of voice. ”Charlie, could we talk for a moment?” He approached his brother. “Did you fix things with Colby?”
“Are you really interested in knowing that?” was Charlie’s response. He still had tears in his eyes.
“Well, yeah… I’d like to know how it went.”
“We got together again.”
“Then-”
“Look, I don’t want to hear it.”
“What? You don’t even know what I’m going to say!”
“No, I do know! I know that you’re going to start making judgments, that you’re going to say that you don’t get me!”
“Charlie…” Alan muttered.
Charlie shouted, “No, Dad, I need him to know that I will always care about what he says, but that he’s not making me change my mind! Not this time, and not when it comes to what I have with Colby!”
“Charlie, stop, let me speak!” Don yelled back.
“Why? You’re not getting me to leave Colby, you’re not going to make me stop feeling what I feel!”
Without saying a word, Don went towards Charlie and held him tight. He said, “That’s the last thing I want, Charlie. I don’t want you to separate from Colby if that will make you miserable.” Charlie didn’t answer, so Don continued, “I’m so sorry, buddy. I didn’t have the right to judge you. I didn’t have the right to judge any of you.”
“Don…” Charlie whispered, and he was crying again.
They were ok now. Their fight was definitely over.
But in that moment, Colby stepped into the house, looking very nervous and angry. He had obviously come with Charlie but had been waiting for him outside. There was a good chance that he had heard the fight that was going on inside the house, because Colby stood in front of Don and said with a firm tone, “Don, you have to understand that this is not just a thing! I care about Charlie and…”
“Everything’s fine, Colby. He’s ok about us,” Charlie interrupted.
Colby’s face turn into an expression of bemusement, and he stepped away from Don. “Oh… I didn’t know that. Sorry…” It seemed that after yelling at his boss, he was afraid that there may be consequences.
Don patted his shoulder and said, “Hey, it’s nothing. It’s going to take me a while to get used to you two, but I promise that I will eventually. Is that good enough for you?”
“Yeah… I think it is,” Colby responded, his cheeks turning red. “So… what do we do now?”
Don had taken a decision for everyone. “Would you like to stay for dinner? Of course, it’s ok if you and Charlie want some time for yourselves…”
“I’d like Colby to stay,” Charlie stated, looking at his lover with warm eyes.
That look made Colby blush and smile. “Yeah, ok, I’ll stay.”
Dinner was calm and natural, even if everybody knew that Don was still working on dealing with the situation. They ordered some pizzas and ate them while listening to soft jazz music on the radio.
Finally, it seemed that everything was going to be ok. Colby and Charlie sometimes looked at each other lovingly, while Don tried to adjust to seeing them together in such a weird but perfect way.
“Would you like another piece of pizza?” Alan asked Colby over and over, and then he started saying that maybe they should order more.
“No, thank you. I think I’m fine,” Colby repeated to every question. Every time he spoke, he giggled, and Charlie did it too, like he was his mirror.
Don offered to go buy some beers because the ones they had at the house were not enough, and when he came back, he saw that Colby was alone, seated at the table.
“Where’s everybody?” Don asked.
“Charlie’s in the bathroom, and your father didn’t let me help him with the dishes, so… here I am, waiting for someone to tell me to do something so I don’t look like the laziest person in the world.”
That was a funny thing to say. Colby seemed to be very nervous and he kept moving his foot, as if trying to find a way to make the awkwardness he felt go away. Don sat beside him and muttered, “Well, you’ve got the picture restoring.”
“What?”
“Our mother’s picture, you’ve got to restore it. It means a lot for us. It’s a nice gesture for Charlie, and for the whole family, considering the mess that took place here. Besides, you already promised that to my brother, so you’re responsible to not letting him down on that one.”
Colby stared at Don, but then he responded, “Yeah, I know that. I’ll still keep my promise of restoring the photograph.”
Don started to take the beers out of the bags he had taken with him, and he offered one to his agent with a smile on his face. “Thanks for that. I mean it.”
Colby smiled back and they both drank their beers slowly. But then Colby’s cell phone rang. “Granger.”
Don watched him closely when he noticed that Colby had gotten suddenly worried.
“Megan, what’s going on?” Colby was saying, his eyes fixed on the beer he was holding with his other hand. “That’s weird. Yeah, I saw him leave with Amita a couple of hours ago. I’ll take care of that, don’t worry.” He hung up and ran a hand over his face.
“What happened?” Don wanted to know.
“Megan needs to talk to David about how to help Amita, but he’s not answering his phone. It’s nothing serious, but still, it’s weird. Maybe I should check that everything’s ok.”
“Would you like me to take care of that, so you can stay here with Charlie and my Dad?”
Colby immediately shook his head. “Nah… David’s my friend, I can handle this. Dinner is over anyway, so I should get going.”
“You’re leaving?” Charlie’s voice said. He was getting into the room and he seemed a little sad.
“I have to find David. He’s with Amita but he’s not answering his phone. I’m going to see how he’s doing.”
The way Charlie looked at Colby made Don shiver. He was so different than when he was with Amita. “I see. Would you mind if I’d ask you to meet me later?” the mathematician said, putting a hand on Colby’s shoulder. Suddenly Don realized that the most difficult part for him would be actually seeing the two lovers being affectionate with each other.
“Um… Yeah, I guess we could meet later,” Colby muttered.
“Great. I’ll walk you to the door… or the area of the house that used to have a door,” Charlie suggested.
In a few seconds, Colby had said goodbye to Alan and Don, and he was getting into his car. From the front door, Don could see Charlie leaning over the car’s door, cupping his lover’s face and approaching it to kiss it.
Yet, Colby seemed to be asking Charlie to stop, given the fact that Don was looking at them. That seemed obvious when Charlie took a look at his brother standing at the front door and immediately retreated.
Charlie stepped away from the car, still talking to Colby. “Will you let me know how Amita is?”
“Sure,” Colby answered.
“Bye, see you later.” Charlie waved his hand at his lover and when the car got into the streets, he went towards the house.
When Charlie walked beside him, Don smiled to him. His brother smiled back, and got into the residence again.
And when Don returned to his house, he didn’t care about the fact that a grenade had blown up part of it. He didn’t even care that he and his family would have to restore Margaret’s photographs. Colby was going to help them to do it, and he was also going to help Charlie to start a new life.
So what if Don didn’t have the construction anymore. To be at home meant to be cared and loved by others, and he was glad that he could make Charlie feel that after their fight, even if he still wasn’t very comfortable with the way things had gone.
Don had made Charlie feel at home again, and that was all that mattered.
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There's 1 chapter left for The Connections Series to be over...
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The song I chose for this chapter
(and the video made by ME this time)
Gotthard - "He ain't heavy, he's my brother"
STAY TUNED FOR THE LAST CHAPTER OF "THE CONNECTIONS SERIES," THIS WEEK.
There will be a couple of surprises for the readers. :)
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Title: The right to judge
Series: The Connections Series, Part 22/23
Characters: Charlie/Colby, Don, Alan
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: None.
Summary: Don and Alan tell Charlie and Colby what they think of their new relationship.
Feedback: I would be so happy if I could get to know what you lovely readers think. :)
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 OCs.
Author's note: I'm still having problems with the POV thing. I tried to fix any mistakes related to that, but if you find any, it's absolutely mine. :)
Beta: The always amazing irena_adler. You rock.
* * *
Go to Part 21: Embracing the connection, R
Go to Part 23: No matter what, PG-13 (Last chapter of this series!)
* * *
The Connections Series
Part 22: “The right to judge”
Two hours of deep thinking didn’t give Don an answer about what to do about Charlie. The only thing he knew for sure was that he was still so very surprised about the news.
He just couldn’t believe it. He didn’t understand how everything had happened in front of his eyes. The memories of Charlie and Colby being together in the same room while Charlie talked about the way math could be applied to actual criminal cases overwhelmed Don too much. He wondered for how long Charlie and Colby had been into each other.
He knew that he still had his father’s eyes on him. Alan was seated on a chair, reading the newspaper, very close to him. Don couldn’t stand being there, knowing that Alan was worried about him and that he was probably expecting him to just accept that his brother had chosen a man as a partner.
But that was only one of the weird things that Don couldn’t stop thinking about. The fact that Colby had turned out to be the person Charlie had wanted to be with had simply shocked him. The agent had always seemed to be so strong and normal, and now it had turned out that he was attracted to Don’s little brother.
Charlie had replaced Amita for him. That had to be the reason why she and Charlie had their fight at the FBI. That had to be the reason why she wanted to leave to India. And it had to have been terrible for her having to be in the same room as both men the night before.
Thankfully, David would support her and give her advice. They had left the FBI together a couple of hours ago, and probably headed towards her apartment so she could rest for a while. It surely was going to take her a long time to recover from everything she had been through.
Feeling tired, Don sat beside his father. He ran his palms over his head and took a deep breath.
Alan, who was watching him closely, set down his newspaper and took off his glasses. He looked at Margaret’s picture, which was next to him on another chair. He took it and muttered, “She would be happy.”
“What?” Don asked, because he had been lost in his own thoughts.
“I said that she would be happy.” Alan ran his fingers over the picture, and Don stared at the gesture in silence. “No matter what Charlie chose, as long as he’d be happy.”
Again, Don took a deep breath. “I know.”
It was time to have a serious talk. “Donnie, I don’t know what’s going on inside your head, but I do know that you truly love your brother.”
“Of course I love him, Dad. The thing is that I don’t understand him. And I remember what you said to me earlier, that I shouldn’t want to get it all, but this is just… so shocking.”
This time Alan remained in silence.
“And the fact that Colby likes him… I mean, I never noticed anything weird between them. I should have seen it, given that I’m Charlie’s brother. I should have realized what was going on.”
Don was devastated and he felt relieved when Alan put a hand on his shoulder. “But it’s out. We all know about the fact that they like each other. Charlie and Colby are adults and they are free to do whatever they feel it’s best for them. What can we do but deal with it and go on with our lives?”
Don stared at him, skeptical. “You seem so accepting. What about your beloved future grandchildren?”
“I’ve given up when it comes to Charlie. I want him to be happy, not to follow the desires of his father. I would never forgive myself if he would choose something just because of me.”
Those words got to Don’s head and heart. “I guess you’re right. I always forget that Charlie’s not that little anymore.”
Alan smiled. “The same happens to me when I think about the two of you, boys,” he said, but then he became serious one more time. “Think about it, Donnie. Would it be so bad if the person who could make Charlie happy was Colby? I mean, you know him. You know you can trust him. He served his country well. He’s a good man.”
Don listened to his father and started to consider the ideas. Alan was right about everything. Colby had proved to be a nice, honest, reliable person anyone could lean on.
“Charlie chose well, and it doesn’t really matter if that person is a man or a woman,” Alan concluded.
During the next moments, Don wondered if he had the right to judge Charlie. He had never made very good decisions when it came to his love life. The list of names of the women he had dated and separated from was overwhelming. He wasn’t an authority in the relationships area, so he couldn’t really know for sure if Charlie was doing the right thing or not.
Only one thing was certain. Charlie had never been so sure about anything before, not even when he still was Amita’s boyfriend. And yet, now that he was interested in Colby, Charlie had stood up to Don and defended what he felt.
“Do you think that he and Colby will get along again? They didn’t look very happy today,” Don said, starting to relax at the idea of his brother starting to take control of his own feelings and his life.
“Of course. I mean, did you actually listen to your brother when you were both fighting? He was determined to not let Colby go. I’m sure he’ll do anything that takes to get him back.”
Now Don relaxed at Alan’s smile, and, smiling himself, he put his hands on the back of his head, arching his back. “I hope Colby doesn’t give him a hard time.” He looked at his father with warm eyes.
Alan stared at him in amusement, his smile getting wider. He seemed to know that Don was finally ok with Charlie’s decision, even if it hard been hard for him to accept it. He lovingly squeezed Don’s shoulder.
And right then, Charlie stepped into the house. He stopped when he saw his father and Don talking and holding his mother’s picture. “Hello…” he muttered, and he sounded a little too formal because he was there to discuss a very serious issue that had changed his whole life.
“Charlie,” Alan muttered.
“I want to talk to you, Dad,” Charlie said, “Alone.”
Don slowly got up and went upstairs, but he hid so he could hear what Charlie was saying to his father and see what they were doing.
So then Charlie pulled out of his jacket the one photograph Colby wanted to restore. He sat where Don had been seconds ago, and showed the picture of Margaret to his father.
Alan simply took it and held both pictures together. “I was looking for this.”
Charlie took a breath and said, “Um… Colby took it this morning.”
“Ok, but why?”
“He wanted to restore it and give it back to us…, to me.”
Alan looked at the picture Charlie had taken with him to the house, and he smiled. “That’s nice.”
“Yeah, I think it is.” Charlie’s voice was starting to tremble. “Dad, listen. There’s something you have to know… although maybe you’ve already noticed it…”
“Yeah… you and Agent Granger.”
Charlie nodded and waited for an answer.
“Charlie, it’s ok. It’s ok that Colby is the one you chose. And you shouldn’t let anyone make you change your mind.”
Charlie was crying. Things were going so well so far, after all the conflict that had taken over everybody’s lives lately.
But still, he asked, “I know that, but what about Don? He doesn’t understand.”
“Yeah, and he’ll probably never understand, but I know that he will support you. He loves you. He’ll always be there for you.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“Charlie…”
Suddenly, Don went downstairs and talked in serious tone of voice. ”Charlie, could we talk for a moment?” He approached his brother. “Did you fix things with Colby?”
“Are you really interested in knowing that?” was Charlie’s response. He still had tears in his eyes.
“Well, yeah… I’d like to know how it went.”
“We got together again.”
“Then-”
“Look, I don’t want to hear it.”
“What? You don’t even know what I’m going to say!”
“No, I do know! I know that you’re going to start making judgments, that you’re going to say that you don’t get me!”
“Charlie…” Alan muttered.
Charlie shouted, “No, Dad, I need him to know that I will always care about what he says, but that he’s not making me change my mind! Not this time, and not when it comes to what I have with Colby!”
“Charlie, stop, let me speak!” Don yelled back.
“Why? You’re not getting me to leave Colby, you’re not going to make me stop feeling what I feel!”
Without saying a word, Don went towards Charlie and held him tight. He said, “That’s the last thing I want, Charlie. I don’t want you to separate from Colby if that will make you miserable.” Charlie didn’t answer, so Don continued, “I’m so sorry, buddy. I didn’t have the right to judge you. I didn’t have the right to judge any of you.”
“Don…” Charlie whispered, and he was crying again.
They were ok now. Their fight was definitely over.
But in that moment, Colby stepped into the house, looking very nervous and angry. He had obviously come with Charlie but had been waiting for him outside. There was a good chance that he had heard the fight that was going on inside the house, because Colby stood in front of Don and said with a firm tone, “Don, you have to understand that this is not just a thing! I care about Charlie and…”
“Everything’s fine, Colby. He’s ok about us,” Charlie interrupted.
Colby’s face turn into an expression of bemusement, and he stepped away from Don. “Oh… I didn’t know that. Sorry…” It seemed that after yelling at his boss, he was afraid that there may be consequences.
Don patted his shoulder and said, “Hey, it’s nothing. It’s going to take me a while to get used to you two, but I promise that I will eventually. Is that good enough for you?”
“Yeah… I think it is,” Colby responded, his cheeks turning red. “So… what do we do now?”
Don had taken a decision for everyone. “Would you like to stay for dinner? Of course, it’s ok if you and Charlie want some time for yourselves…”
“I’d like Colby to stay,” Charlie stated, looking at his lover with warm eyes.
That look made Colby blush and smile. “Yeah, ok, I’ll stay.”
Dinner was calm and natural, even if everybody knew that Don was still working on dealing with the situation. They ordered some pizzas and ate them while listening to soft jazz music on the radio.
Finally, it seemed that everything was going to be ok. Colby and Charlie sometimes looked at each other lovingly, while Don tried to adjust to seeing them together in such a weird but perfect way.
“Would you like another piece of pizza?” Alan asked Colby over and over, and then he started saying that maybe they should order more.
“No, thank you. I think I’m fine,” Colby repeated to every question. Every time he spoke, he giggled, and Charlie did it too, like he was his mirror.
Don offered to go buy some beers because the ones they had at the house were not enough, and when he came back, he saw that Colby was alone, seated at the table.
“Where’s everybody?” Don asked.
“Charlie’s in the bathroom, and your father didn’t let me help him with the dishes, so… here I am, waiting for someone to tell me to do something so I don’t look like the laziest person in the world.”
That was a funny thing to say. Colby seemed to be very nervous and he kept moving his foot, as if trying to find a way to make the awkwardness he felt go away. Don sat beside him and muttered, “Well, you’ve got the picture restoring.”
“What?”
“Our mother’s picture, you’ve got to restore it. It means a lot for us. It’s a nice gesture for Charlie, and for the whole family, considering the mess that took place here. Besides, you already promised that to my brother, so you’re responsible to not letting him down on that one.”
Colby stared at Don, but then he responded, “Yeah, I know that. I’ll still keep my promise of restoring the photograph.”
Don started to take the beers out of the bags he had taken with him, and he offered one to his agent with a smile on his face. “Thanks for that. I mean it.”
Colby smiled back and they both drank their beers slowly. But then Colby’s cell phone rang. “Granger.”
Don watched him closely when he noticed that Colby had gotten suddenly worried.
“Megan, what’s going on?” Colby was saying, his eyes fixed on the beer he was holding with his other hand. “That’s weird. Yeah, I saw him leave with Amita a couple of hours ago. I’ll take care of that, don’t worry.” He hung up and ran a hand over his face.
“What happened?” Don wanted to know.
“Megan needs to talk to David about how to help Amita, but he’s not answering his phone. It’s nothing serious, but still, it’s weird. Maybe I should check that everything’s ok.”
“Would you like me to take care of that, so you can stay here with Charlie and my Dad?”
Colby immediately shook his head. “Nah… David’s my friend, I can handle this. Dinner is over anyway, so I should get going.”
“You’re leaving?” Charlie’s voice said. He was getting into the room and he seemed a little sad.
“I have to find David. He’s with Amita but he’s not answering his phone. I’m going to see how he’s doing.”
The way Charlie looked at Colby made Don shiver. He was so different than when he was with Amita. “I see. Would you mind if I’d ask you to meet me later?” the mathematician said, putting a hand on Colby’s shoulder. Suddenly Don realized that the most difficult part for him would be actually seeing the two lovers being affectionate with each other.
“Um… Yeah, I guess we could meet later,” Colby muttered.
“Great. I’ll walk you to the door… or the area of the house that used to have a door,” Charlie suggested.
In a few seconds, Colby had said goodbye to Alan and Don, and he was getting into his car. From the front door, Don could see Charlie leaning over the car’s door, cupping his lover’s face and approaching it to kiss it.
Yet, Colby seemed to be asking Charlie to stop, given the fact that Don was looking at them. That seemed obvious when Charlie took a look at his brother standing at the front door and immediately retreated.
Charlie stepped away from the car, still talking to Colby. “Will you let me know how Amita is?”
“Sure,” Colby answered.
“Bye, see you later.” Charlie waved his hand at his lover and when the car got into the streets, he went towards the house.
When Charlie walked beside him, Don smiled to him. His brother smiled back, and got into the residence again.
And when Don returned to his house, he didn’t care about the fact that a grenade had blown up part of it. He didn’t even care that he and his family would have to restore Margaret’s photographs. Colby was going to help them to do it, and he was also going to help Charlie to start a new life.
So what if Don didn’t have the construction anymore. To be at home meant to be cared and loved by others, and he was glad that he could make Charlie feel that after their fight, even if he still wasn’t very comfortable with the way things had gone.
Don had made Charlie feel at home again, and that was all that mattered.
* * *
There's 1 chapter left for The Connections Series to be over...
* * *
The song I chose for this chapter
(and the video made by ME this time)
Gotthard - "He ain't heavy, he's my brother"
Click to viewSTAY TUNED FOR THE LAST CHAPTER OF "THE CONNECTIONS SERIES," THIS WEEK.
There will be a couple of surprises for the readers. :)