FIC: Holding on to a lie, Part 16 (Charlie/Colby, Amita, Larry, Alan, R)
Title: "Fighting against a stranger"
Series: Holding on to a lie, Part 16
Characters: Charlie/Colby, Amita, Larry, Alan.
Rating: R.
Spoilers: None.
Warnings: None.
Summary: Who rolled down the stairs?
Feedback: I love feedback. Every comment is a cup of coffee that keeps me posting. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Numb3rs or anything related to it. But I do own any OCs.
Beta: The wonderful fredbassett.
Previous chapter: Part 15/? - Under control" (Colby/Charlie, Amita, Alan, Larry, David, Don, PG-13)
Holding on to a lie
Part 16: “Fighting against a stranger”
Charlie almost fainted when Amita took control of him and ran the knife over his skin. He was a mathematician, he was an FBI consultant - yet he was afraid.
He was panicking and losing it, being in his ex- girlfriend’s hands.
But he was also angry. He hated what was happening, even if he couldn’t exactly figure out why he was going through it.
He had never experienced something like this. The desperation of getting involved in a car chase during a case wasn’t even close to the pain he felt right now. It was Amita who was doing this; she was the one who was creating all this mess!
She was going crazy, and at the same time, she was putting his relatives and friends in danger, threatening to kill Charlie if someone made a move.
Alan’s questions about what was going on got to Charlie’s brain and it was horrible to watch Colby put down his gun in order to keep Amita calm. Larry was just speechless, unable to react - would he be able to survive this experience?
Shaking from head to foot, he sighed when she cut his neck. She had only taken a little bit of blood out of him, but it seemed that even a few drops could make Charlie faint just from being aware that he had been hurt.
It felt like everything was about to crush, burn and disappear. Yet, Charlie’s attention was drawn to his father’s eyes on him as Amita still held her knife against his neck.
It was heart-breaking to see those eyes; lost with fear, they were looking for an explanation that so far didn’t exist.
Surprisingly, Amita left the room, not even closing the door. Charlie thought Colby would come and save him in a second, but that didn’t happen. His lover was apparently fighting with Alan inside the room…
Charlie didn’t know what they were saying. The pressure of being held hostage seemed to be too much for him at the moment.
However, he suddenly realized that Amita’s hands were off him. He found himself being thrown onto the stairs, and he managed to hold on to the banister and keep himself on his own two feet. “Ahh…” he sighed, running his fingers over the wound on his neck. He couldn’t believe who had given him that injury. Since when was Amita a violent person? Since when had she started building up such rage? “Damn it,” he cursed.
“Damn you, Charlie,” he heard Amita say, and when he turned to her, he found her picking up Colby’s cell phone and putting it into her bag. After taking the agent’s gun, she pointed it at Charlie, while holding the knife in her other hand. “Damn you, damn Colby, damn Patrick, you all did this to me.”
“What the hel-?”
“Don’t you play the ignorance card with me!” she yelled, waving the gun. “While I was kidnapped and tortured by Patrick, you and Colby were making moves on each other. ‘Right, so Amita will probably die, so why don’t we take our chance while she’s out of the way?’” she mimicked Charlie’s tone when he felt confident. Then she started to get closer and closer to him, occasionally looking back to see if Colby or anyone else was coming for her.
In a moment, she seemed to be wondering why no one had left the bedroom yet. The fight was still going on inside, and suddenly there was the sound of someone hitting the floor.
Suddenly, Charlie could hear Larry yell, “No!” and then, “Oh my goodness, Alan…”
Oh my God.
He forgot about Amita and the fact that she had multiple weapons. She went towards his father’s bedroom, not caring if she killed him or not.
She didn’t. But when Charlie was able to see what was going on inside the room, his heart almost stopped. Larry was kneeling beside Alan, with Colby giving CPR to his old man. There was his father, basically dying.
There is just 5-10% chance that the person who receives CPR survives.
He didn’t say a word, and Colby and Larry didn’t notice him there, but he did feel Amita’s hand on his body again.
In less than three seconds, she had reached for him, taking him back outside the bedroom, taking him back to what amounted to a torture session.
She forced him to go back to where they were before, and she slammed him against the wall, placing the barrel of the gun on his chest.
Could he actually breathe? Charlie had no idea why he was still alive. He couldn’t react; his body only did the things his brain didn’t have to command.
Looking into Amita’s big, dark eyes, which had once been sweet and charming, he realized that he was in front of a stranger. She wasn’t the intelligent, amazing woman he had fallen in love with anymore; she was someone who had changed for the worst and wasn’t willing to try to make things better for herself.
Changing pills, kidnapping, using guns and knives, causing pain to loved ones? Those weren’t the actions of someone who wanted to get help.
Maybe this was Berenson’s effect on her? Yeah, it had to be that. Amita wasn’t the kind of woman to go crazy and try to kill her ex-boyfriend because he had found love somewhere else.
Although considering the circumstances in which that had happened, Charlie thought that in a way, she had the right to be mad.
“See, Charlie?” she said, breathing very close to his face, pressing the barrel of the gun harder against his chest, making him tremble. “This is what happens… when you disrespect the person you love… and go around having little affairs when she’s not there.” No matter how angry she was, her voice was still broken. It seemed that she didn’t want to do what she was doing. Why couldn’t she stop, then?
“Please, I know this isn’t you…” Charlie muttered, trying to catch his breath in order to be able to speak. “I know you better than anyone, and…”
“You did know me…,” Amita cut him off, “and yet, being aware of how much you’d hurt me… you did it, Charlie. You did it… You cheated on me with Colby… and you left me… when I needed you the most.”
“No, Amita, it’s not like that… It didn’t start when you were kidnapped… It started be-”
“Before?! And that’s supposed to make me feel better?! You’re telling me that you had a thing for Colby while you were still with me!”
Colby’s voice came out from the room. “Damn it! No, don’t do this to me, don’t you do this to Charlie now, Alan, you can’t!” As Larry’s cries became silent, he continued yelling, “C’mon, Alan, c’mon! You’re stronger than this!”
Almost broken, Charlie swallowed. Colby was still trying to save his father, and the first minutes were crucial. What if he didn’t get to…?
The mathematician tried to erase those thoughts from his mind. If Colby was doing his best, he had to do something, too. He had to do something to save everyone, including Amita, from this hell she had brought into the house.
“Amita, look… That’s true, but… you know that our relationship was getting colder,” he explained. “But you have to know this. I will always love you as a friend, you’ll always be welcome in my house…” Charlie knew he was lying, because he’d never allow her to come back after what she had just done, but if he had to say crazy things in order to save his loved ones, he would.
But Amita didn’t react as he expected. Heavy tears were running down her face and she screamed in anger, “No, you won’t do that to me!”
She started to hit his chest, trying to hurt him with the gun without shooting at him. Charlie made efforts to stop her, he tried to grab her hands, but she was out of control. Amita was cursing and crying, and there was no way to make her calm down.
They fought that way until they got to the end of the banister. They both teetered on the top step, then Amita reached for Charlie and took him down with her.
They both rolled down the stairs together, grabbing each other’s clothes as they hit step after step, gasping and cursing in pain.
When they reached the bottom, Charlie could feel his body trembling from the hard bumps. He closed his eyes, trying to get his thoughts in order. Everything around him seemed to be shaky and he could barely move.
The only thing he could think of was that he needed to call Don. He made a huge effort to reach for his cell phone again, but when his fingers touched the device, someone else grabbed it.
Breathing heavily, Charlie opened his eyes and found Amita lying almost on top of him. All the memories of what had happened upstairs came back to him, and all he could do was try to get away from her.
He quickly tried to slide out from beneath her - he couldn’t stand the anger and the fear and he just wanted her to stop - but before he could do it, she reached for him.
“Get away from me! Charlie yelled. “This is what Bob wanted to happen! Don’t you see that he’s manipulating you?”
“No! Bob did what he has always done, play with his little innocent patients whenever he can, that’s all! He’s got nothing to do with this! I’d felt like crap for a long time before Don assigned him to my case!” she responded, and her voice was absolutely broken.
“Amita, you wouldn’t do this, it was that damn therapy!”
“No, wasn’t! Why can’t you accept that this is your fault, Charlie? Why?”
Charlie breathed hard. That question had stabbed him right in the heart because he had always been worried about how Amita would react after he and Colby had decided to be together.
He tried to get up, and he managed it, but when he was on his feet again and trying to get out his cell phone, Amita put the barrel of the gun against the back of his neck. It was obvious that while Charlie was forcing himself upright, she had picked it up -possibly the knife, too.
And Charlie was at her mercy again.
“Come here, Charlie… Please, don’t fight with me...” Amita muttered and slowly, he let her take his cell phone and throw it away.
“Charlie!” Colby yelled suddenly, and he started coming downstairs.
Amita pulled Charlie towards her body again, using him as some kind of human shield threatening with her gun again.
But there were noises coming from both the front of the house and the backyard.
Amita looked around, with a desperate look on her face.
Charlie could feel her breathing hard against his ear when Don and David opened the front door.
Series: Holding on to a lie, Part 16
Characters: Charlie/Colby, Amita, Larry, Alan.
Rating: R.
Spoilers: None.
Warnings: None.
Summary: Who rolled down the stairs?
Feedback: I love feedback. Every comment is a cup of coffee that keeps me posting. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Numb3rs or anything related to it. But I do own any OCs.
Beta: The wonderful fredbassett.
Previous chapter: Part 15/? - Under control" (Colby/Charlie, Amita, Alan, Larry, David, Don, PG-13)
Holding on to a lie
Part 16: “Fighting against a stranger”
Charlie almost fainted when Amita took control of him and ran the knife over his skin. He was a mathematician, he was an FBI consultant - yet he was afraid.
He was panicking and losing it, being in his ex- girlfriend’s hands.
But he was also angry. He hated what was happening, even if he couldn’t exactly figure out why he was going through it.
He had never experienced something like this. The desperation of getting involved in a car chase during a case wasn’t even close to the pain he felt right now. It was Amita who was doing this; she was the one who was creating all this mess!
She was going crazy, and at the same time, she was putting his relatives and friends in danger, threatening to kill Charlie if someone made a move.
Alan’s questions about what was going on got to Charlie’s brain and it was horrible to watch Colby put down his gun in order to keep Amita calm. Larry was just speechless, unable to react - would he be able to survive this experience?
Shaking from head to foot, he sighed when she cut his neck. She had only taken a little bit of blood out of him, but it seemed that even a few drops could make Charlie faint just from being aware that he had been hurt.
It felt like everything was about to crush, burn and disappear. Yet, Charlie’s attention was drawn to his father’s eyes on him as Amita still held her knife against his neck.
It was heart-breaking to see those eyes; lost with fear, they were looking for an explanation that so far didn’t exist.
Surprisingly, Amita left the room, not even closing the door. Charlie thought Colby would come and save him in a second, but that didn’t happen. His lover was apparently fighting with Alan inside the room…
Charlie didn’t know what they were saying. The pressure of being held hostage seemed to be too much for him at the moment.
However, he suddenly realized that Amita’s hands were off him. He found himself being thrown onto the stairs, and he managed to hold on to the banister and keep himself on his own two feet. “Ahh…” he sighed, running his fingers over the wound on his neck. He couldn’t believe who had given him that injury. Since when was Amita a violent person? Since when had she started building up such rage? “Damn it,” he cursed.
“Damn you, Charlie,” he heard Amita say, and when he turned to her, he found her picking up Colby’s cell phone and putting it into her bag. After taking the agent’s gun, she pointed it at Charlie, while holding the knife in her other hand. “Damn you, damn Colby, damn Patrick, you all did this to me.”
“What the hel-?”
“Don’t you play the ignorance card with me!” she yelled, waving the gun. “While I was kidnapped and tortured by Patrick, you and Colby were making moves on each other. ‘Right, so Amita will probably die, so why don’t we take our chance while she’s out of the way?’” she mimicked Charlie’s tone when he felt confident. Then she started to get closer and closer to him, occasionally looking back to see if Colby or anyone else was coming for her.
In a moment, she seemed to be wondering why no one had left the bedroom yet. The fight was still going on inside, and suddenly there was the sound of someone hitting the floor.
Suddenly, Charlie could hear Larry yell, “No!” and then, “Oh my goodness, Alan…”
Oh my God.
He forgot about Amita and the fact that she had multiple weapons. She went towards his father’s bedroom, not caring if she killed him or not.
She didn’t. But when Charlie was able to see what was going on inside the room, his heart almost stopped. Larry was kneeling beside Alan, with Colby giving CPR to his old man. There was his father, basically dying.
There is just 5-10% chance that the person who receives CPR survives.
He didn’t say a word, and Colby and Larry didn’t notice him there, but he did feel Amita’s hand on his body again.
In less than three seconds, she had reached for him, taking him back outside the bedroom, taking him back to what amounted to a torture session.
She forced him to go back to where they were before, and she slammed him against the wall, placing the barrel of the gun on his chest.
Could he actually breathe? Charlie had no idea why he was still alive. He couldn’t react; his body only did the things his brain didn’t have to command.
Looking into Amita’s big, dark eyes, which had once been sweet and charming, he realized that he was in front of a stranger. She wasn’t the intelligent, amazing woman he had fallen in love with anymore; she was someone who had changed for the worst and wasn’t willing to try to make things better for herself.
Changing pills, kidnapping, using guns and knives, causing pain to loved ones? Those weren’t the actions of someone who wanted to get help.
Maybe this was Berenson’s effect on her? Yeah, it had to be that. Amita wasn’t the kind of woman to go crazy and try to kill her ex-boyfriend because he had found love somewhere else.
Although considering the circumstances in which that had happened, Charlie thought that in a way, she had the right to be mad.
“See, Charlie?” she said, breathing very close to his face, pressing the barrel of the gun harder against his chest, making him tremble. “This is what happens… when you disrespect the person you love… and go around having little affairs when she’s not there.” No matter how angry she was, her voice was still broken. It seemed that she didn’t want to do what she was doing. Why couldn’t she stop, then?
“Please, I know this isn’t you…” Charlie muttered, trying to catch his breath in order to be able to speak. “I know you better than anyone, and…”
“You did know me…,” Amita cut him off, “and yet, being aware of how much you’d hurt me… you did it, Charlie. You did it… You cheated on me with Colby… and you left me… when I needed you the most.”
“No, Amita, it’s not like that… It didn’t start when you were kidnapped… It started be-”
“Before?! And that’s supposed to make me feel better?! You’re telling me that you had a thing for Colby while you were still with me!”
Colby’s voice came out from the room. “Damn it! No, don’t do this to me, don’t you do this to Charlie now, Alan, you can’t!” As Larry’s cries became silent, he continued yelling, “C’mon, Alan, c’mon! You’re stronger than this!”
Almost broken, Charlie swallowed. Colby was still trying to save his father, and the first minutes were crucial. What if he didn’t get to…?
The mathematician tried to erase those thoughts from his mind. If Colby was doing his best, he had to do something, too. He had to do something to save everyone, including Amita, from this hell she had brought into the house.
“Amita, look… That’s true, but… you know that our relationship was getting colder,” he explained. “But you have to know this. I will always love you as a friend, you’ll always be welcome in my house…” Charlie knew he was lying, because he’d never allow her to come back after what she had just done, but if he had to say crazy things in order to save his loved ones, he would.
But Amita didn’t react as he expected. Heavy tears were running down her face and she screamed in anger, “No, you won’t do that to me!”
She started to hit his chest, trying to hurt him with the gun without shooting at him. Charlie made efforts to stop her, he tried to grab her hands, but she was out of control. Amita was cursing and crying, and there was no way to make her calm down.
They fought that way until they got to the end of the banister. They both teetered on the top step, then Amita reached for Charlie and took him down with her.
They both rolled down the stairs together, grabbing each other’s clothes as they hit step after step, gasping and cursing in pain.
When they reached the bottom, Charlie could feel his body trembling from the hard bumps. He closed his eyes, trying to get his thoughts in order. Everything around him seemed to be shaky and he could barely move.
The only thing he could think of was that he needed to call Don. He made a huge effort to reach for his cell phone again, but when his fingers touched the device, someone else grabbed it.
Breathing heavily, Charlie opened his eyes and found Amita lying almost on top of him. All the memories of what had happened upstairs came back to him, and all he could do was try to get away from her.
He quickly tried to slide out from beneath her - he couldn’t stand the anger and the fear and he just wanted her to stop - but before he could do it, she reached for him.
“Get away from me! Charlie yelled. “This is what Bob wanted to happen! Don’t you see that he’s manipulating you?”
“No! Bob did what he has always done, play with his little innocent patients whenever he can, that’s all! He’s got nothing to do with this! I’d felt like crap for a long time before Don assigned him to my case!” she responded, and her voice was absolutely broken.
“Amita, you wouldn’t do this, it was that damn therapy!”
“No, wasn’t! Why can’t you accept that this is your fault, Charlie? Why?”
Charlie breathed hard. That question had stabbed him right in the heart because he had always been worried about how Amita would react after he and Colby had decided to be together.
He tried to get up, and he managed it, but when he was on his feet again and trying to get out his cell phone, Amita put the barrel of the gun against the back of his neck. It was obvious that while Charlie was forcing himself upright, she had picked it up -possibly the knife, too.
And Charlie was at her mercy again.
“Come here, Charlie… Please, don’t fight with me...” Amita muttered and slowly, he let her take his cell phone and throw it away.
“Charlie!” Colby yelled suddenly, and he started coming downstairs.
Amita pulled Charlie towards her body again, using him as some kind of human shield threatening with her gun again.
But there were noises coming from both the front of the house and the backyard.
Amita looked around, with a desperate look on her face.
Charlie could feel her breathing hard against his ear when Don and David opened the front door.