FIC: In the Arms of the Wicked, 14 (David, Don, Liz, Charlie/Colby, Larry/Megan, Alan, Amita, PG-13)
Title: "Hard Decisions"
Series: In the Arms of the Wicked, Part 14/?
Characters: David, Don, Liz, Charlie/Colby, Larry/Megan, Alan, Amita.
Rating: PG-13.
Spoilers: None.
Warnings: None.
Summary: We’re aware of this lie and yet we’re all going to go with it. Even if it’s obvious that it won’t make things better. Let’s see how it turns out.
Feedback: Yes, please. :)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything (characters, situations, etcetera) except my OCs.
Beta: The fabulous nyctophobia76.
Previous chapters: Click here.
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Part 14: "Hard Decisions"
A hospital again…
But no tests today. This time, David actually wanted to be there. The perfume of the bouquet of white lilies he held whispered calmness and hope.
He had called Jay. His sister never disappointed him; she was always willing to talk, to listen to his doubts on his job and the life back in the Bronx. Her voice was always inside his head when he was going through a hard time. “Don’t give up, David. Don’t give up,” she always said.
She was the only person who could save him from falling apart. Colby was his friend and his partner, a wonderful guy to talk to, but there were things that not even friendship could fix. Family, on the other hand, was a way to keep the balance right and stay away from the crazy life of an FBI job.
But there were people who really knew how to put a smile on David’s face and who didn’t exactly belong to his family. When he got to the room he was looking for, he smiled and leaned on the doorframe, hiding the bouquet from the other person’s view. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Liz greeted him from her bed, as her lips curved in a friendly smile. “Come in, how are you?”
“Okay. I’m okay.” David stepped into the room and let her see the flowers he had bought for her.
“Ah, David…” She seemed to be so happy, just by knowing that someone had taken the time to have a nice gesture towards her. “You shouldn’t have…”
“I wanted to, so you don’t get to protest.”
“All right, all right…”
David caught her smirking as he arranged the new lilies in the same vase where he’d put the ones he had bought for her before. “What is it?” he asked.
Liz looked into his eyes, and her voice was completely honest when she said, “Thank you. I have to admit that I like how white lilies match the pink ones you brought me the other day. It gives this place a little color, you know.”
Looking around the room, David had to admit that she was right. A hospital room wasn’t exactly warm, and the flowers gave it a bit of a nice, cozy touch. He took a deep breath, feeling glad that his gift was appreciated. Then he sat on the bed, beside her and put a hand on her arm. “You did an excellent job inside that house, Liz.”
“Amita knocked me down. I didn’t even know that was possible, but people who are put into a lot of stress are capable of anything,” she joked.
He shook his head. “Stop making excuses. We all know that you did your best. And your best is one hell of a kick ass.”
This time she laughed; it was good to see her happy after what she had been through. “Have you guys been having fun?”
David smiled playfully. “Not that much without you in the field.”
“Of course,” she said, grinning at his joke, but then she slowly became more serious. “So… did they take the samples for the test?”
A little shiver ran down David’s spine when he remembered the moment the needle had caught his blood, and the swab had taken some of his DNA. “Yeah. Now all we have to do is wait. Results will be available in about a month; three weeks if we’re lucky.”
Liz seemed to be looking for a deeper answer than that. David knew how obvious it was when he looked away, and he couldn’t blame her for leaning over and asking, “I can’t tell you that I know what it feels like, but I can assure you that I’ll be here if you ever need to talk…”
He took a breath, looking into her eyes. Sharing his decisions seemed to be the right thing to do in that moment. “I’ve called my sister Jay. I think that talking to her will help me deal with it. Well… I hope.”
“Just remember that there are people who care about you, okay? We’re not only partners. We’re friends for a reason,” she muttered, taking his hands. “I mean, David,” she said softly, “life is all about making hard decisions, but that doesn’t mean that you have to be alone.”
Feeling overwhelmed by Liz’s support, David couldn’t restrain from saying, “Is this the effect of bringing you flowers?”
She obviously caught the meaning of his joke and laughed.
“Lilies have a much deeper meaning than I thought,” he added, giving her a confused, funny face.
Her answer was quick and amusing. “Oh, you’d be surprised.”
Feeling strangely better than when he had first come in, David got up from the bed and offered Liz his hand. “C’mon, I’ll help you,” he said, helping her to leave the bed and stand up properly; she refused to leave the lilies back at the hospital. As he took her things and they walked together out of the room, shoulder by shoulder, there was something David couldn’t deny.
Maybe friendship couldn’t fix everything; but it certainly helped finding the way home.
XxX
Charlie was definitely thrilled to see his father today. He couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when he got out of the hospital and into Don’s apartment, where he’d live with his two sons temporarily again.
Watching Alan from the door, Charlie shook his head. His father truly hated being on a bed, not able to make any decisions by himself without a doctor’s approval. Now he was up, organizing his crosswords, newspapers and books on the bed, trying to make them fit into a medium-size bag.
“Dad,” Charlie said, moving into the room.
Alan turned to him at the sound of his voice. “Charlie, son! It’s so good to see you,” he said and gave Charlie a hug.
“You look good! You’ve got color.” When he looked around, the mathematician noticed a table in which several little containers rested; they had traces of a viscous, strange, green substance. “And you’re eating well.”
“Unfortunately, too much of this so called ‘jelly.’ It’s the only barely eatable thing I could find,” Alan muttered, giving him a disgusted face. “I found my glasses, though. My memory’s slowly getting better, thank God.”
Smiling, Charlie started getting his father’s stuff. “I’ll help you carry all this, you don’t worry about anything.”
Suddenly, Don came in looking worried, but as soon as his eyes landed on Alan, a big smile spread over his face. “Hey, ready to go home?”
Charlie stared at his brother, thinking of how weird he’d been that day. They hadn’t talked as much as usual; all they had done was making jokes to each other. In a way, it was strange and it felt like something else -something dangerously close to anger- was hidden underneath funny words.
“You mean your apartment? As long as you’ve cleaned up a bit…” Alan muttered, smirking when Don patted his shoulder.
It was so wonderful for Charlie to see his family interacting again like in the old days for a while, after so much pain and trouble. He couldn’t stop smiling as Don helped him put Alan’s things inside the bag. He and his brother glanced at their father, then at each other and smiled reciprocally.
Alan frowned. “Hey, what are yo-?”
“Good morning, Mr. Eppes,” a deep voice said, and Colby was soon shaking Alan’s hand. “I’m glad you’re up and running, again.”
“Colby… Hi,” Alan muttered, looking surprised. Charlie felt his father’s eyes on him as he kept packing.
“We went to get a cup of coffee last night when we got the news,” he explained, smiling sweetly, sending an implicit message to his father.
Of course, Alan caught the meaning of it; he looked into Charlie’s eyes, and his confused expression turned into a happy, impressed one. “Oh… I… that’s great!”
“And you haven’t even seen what we’ve got for you,” Colby muttered. When he approached Don and Charlie to help them carry all the bags, his lover called him over for a moment. Their entire conversation was in whispers, since Alan wasn’t supposed to know about their little surprise.
“Was he okay when you left him?” Charlie said, trying not to raise his voice.
“Yeah.”
“Did you check the…” Don started.
“Yes, I did, Don, for the fiftieth time,” Colby whispered.
“Well, I’m being cautious. I want to have a home when I actually go home…”
“Okay, I’m going to ask again,” Alan interrupted them, speaking from the other side of the room. “What are you guys up to?”
Charlie shook his head, as he and the others started taking the bags. “Ah, it’s nothing, Dad. Larry’s making us all breakfast today, that’s all.”
Alan stared at his youngest son as if he was crazy. “Breakfast? Larry’s going to cook? Am I the only one who sees the potential danger of it?”
“Chemistry has certainly helped him to find his culinary side.”
“Culinary side?” Alan blinked. “Okay, now I’m officially scared.”
Colby and Don laughed, but Charlie added, “Don’t worry, Megan’s supposed to help him out…”
“… and keeping him from blowing up my apartment,” Don continued.
“That’s if we’re lucky, of course,” Colby finished with a smirk that Charlie considered more than cute.
“Colby, are you absolutely sure that you checked…”
“Yes, Don!” It was fun for Charlie to see Colby roll his eyes at his brother and shook his head as he got out of the room.
“Well, if you didn’t, at least I asked,” Don responded, taking another bag and leaving. “C’mon, Charlie. Let’s take the old man home.” He laughed and Charlie felt happiness again for the first time in days.
“Really? I’ll show you what this ‘old man’ can do,” Alan assured them as he confidently walked out with them.
XxX
Liz felt herself glowing when she reunited with the rest of the team. As if seeing David smile for a moment hadn’t been great enough, Colby and Charlie seemed to have fixed things between them somehow and looked relaxed and less tired. Alan was coming home too, and she was more than happy that the Eppes family could spend some time alone. Apparently, they were going to live in Don’s apartment until the house stopped being considered part of the India case.
Everyone greeted her and told her that they were glad to see her walking again, even if she needed some help; David smiled at the comment, and Liz said, “I hope you have a great time together. You truly deserve it.”
“We?” Charlie asked, as Don smirked.
“Yeah, why?”
“You’re not thinking of going back to your apartment right now,” Colby muttered.
Don’s smirk went wider. “Oh, no, miss, you’re going home with us to take the first meal of the day.”
It was such a sweet thing for Don to say, until Alan added, “Larry’s making us breakfast.”
“You’re kidding,” she snapped.
“I wished I was.”
A bit worried, Liz looked around and noticed how all men nodded. Colby and Don seemed to be as worried as her, while David kept shaking his head, and Alan looked thoughtful. But even if Larry was in charge of breakfast today, they didn’t seem to really care. There were more important things happening at the moment.
“In that case,” she informed them, trying to restrain a laugh, “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Together, we can work things out. We have to.
XxX
Don’s kitchen wasn’t exactly what Megan could call a warm place to cook; the cabinet was full of appliances that seemed to have never been used, and the room seemed to have been occupied only a few times, judging from a couple of cheese stains she could see on the counter.
But that didn’t mean that the kitchen couldn’t be put in good use. Now, it smelled of cookies and brownies, the homey atmosphere filling Megan’s senses as she watched Larry. She’d tried not to give his clothes little attention, but once she had actually noticed it, it was impossible for her not to smile or giggle when her eyes landed on them. He was wearing his lab coat, his gloves and his favorite big glasses, and he was analyzing coffee brewing as if making a breakfast was a question of chemistry.
The worst part was that she had to recognize that it was exactly that.
“This is pure science,” Larry muttered as he kept still, watching the way the coffee machine worked. “Did you know that there is an entire field on chemistry that studies how several processes of brewing, temperature and other factors lead to different combinations of acids in an every day beverage like coffee?”
“I think I saw something about it on the food channel, but honestly, I didn’t think it was that complex,” she answered, smiling.
“Trust me, Megan, it is. For example, your contributions, making the cookies and brownies were certainly a display of cooking wisdom. But I already have my conclusions, so perhaps we should start getting everything ready.” The machine beeped; Larry carefully took the pot out of it and placed it on the cabinet next to him, on a cloth.
“Okay, let’s go. They’re going to love this.” We’re aware of this lie and yet we’re all going to go with it. Even if it’s obvious that it won’t make things better. Let's see how it turns out.
“I just hope they can see the efforts that making this kind of meal takes.”
Soon, they were both in the tiny dining room, getting the table ready, bringing cups and trails with cookies and croissants to it. They stood at the end of the table, and it all seemed to be perfect, until Larry muttered, “The white sector of the table looks quite remarkable.”
She smiled at his comment, remembering how passionate he had been when he’d insisted in having a part of the table with only white food. Feeling a dazzling happiness in her heart, she put an arm around his shoulders and kissed his cheek. “Yeah, I think it does look pretty good, doesn’t it?”
“Let’s bring the Devil.”
“What?” she snapped as he walked into the kitchen. But when he came back, she understood. “Ah, you meant the coffee.”
“In Europe, hundreds of years ago, coffee was considered to be the ‘Satan’s beverage.’ Then, fortunately for the victims of addiction, that name lost its religious meaning, and now all of us can enjoy it as it really wasn’t a legal drug.” As he spoke, he started pouring coffee on his mug; the steam of it filled the room with the smell of reunion and conversation.
Until the apartment’s door was open and Don, Charlie, Liz, David, Colby and Alan stood at the door; all of them remained still, watching the scene that was taking place at the dining room.
“Oh, dear,” Alan muttered, looking shocked and worried. Megan couldn’t really blame him. Looking like a mad scientist in the kitchen, plus Larry being Larry, could be easily be taken a sign of danger and chaos.
“No kitchen appliances or people were damaged during the making of this meal, I assure you,” the physicist explained. Megan laughed at the moment, and that was when everyone relaxed - almost.
“See? Nothing happened. I checked everything.” Colby smirked at Don, who just in case, ran to the kitchen, probably to see if it was still there.
“Alan, I’m so pleased to see you,” Larry said as he awkwardly walked towards his friend and hugged him, still wearing his scientist clothes and making everyone laugh at his enthusiastic way of showing appreciation.
XxX
“Larry, this is delicious,” Charlie said as he ate a chocolate chip cookie.
“Yeah, it’s truly amazing. I didn’t know you could do such a good breakfast,” Colby agreed, as he started eating another brownie. It had an exquisite taste; he had to admit that even Larry Fleinhardt had a couple of aces up his sleeve.
“Really, this is awesome, man,” David said, nodding and pouring more coffee into his mug.
Megan caressed Larry’s back. “See? Everyone sees the effort.”
With a wide smile on his face, he put his palms together. “That coffee was made using a fine grind for 5.21 minutes. Then it was brewed at almost 100°C, creating a good combination of extracted acids - mostly the chlorogenic, quinic and citric ones. I thought it’d be the most appropriate choice to greet my friends.”
Colby frowned, feeling weird after that sudden explanation. He looked around the table, seeing that everyone was glancing at each other. He couldn’t even find an answer in Charlie’s confused eyes.
“Thank you, Larry,” Alan said, breaking the ice, though from the tone of his voice, it was obvious that he was feeling as awkward as everyone else.
The physicist made a little bow. “You’re welcome.”
And then, everybody laughed, going back to their coffee. Colby was about to take another sip when Don raised his hands.
“Wait, wait. Hold on, everyone. I know that we started eating already, but I want to make a toast… It’ll be quick, I promise. There’s only one thing I want to say to all of you.” He had a big smile on his face, as the others turned to him. “Welcome back,” he said, raising his cup of coffee and looking around the table.
“Ah, that’s sweet,” Liz muttered, and Alan thanked his son.
Then, breakfast continued to be wonderful. It was a strange scene for Colby to judge, since the team didn’t usually share so much time together; but from his view, everyone around the table had something to be thankful for. He had a long road ahead of him, a road that he’d walk with Charlie.
Trying not to be obvious, he reached down the table for his lover’s hand and smiled at his coffee when Charlie, looking away, took his and entwined their fingers. Maybe he knew that a simple breakfast wouldn’t fix things, but for a moment, he felt the luckiest man in the world.
XxX
Don had to leave his apartment so early. Breakfast wasn’t over when he excused himself, saying that Carl needed him at the office. It was an obvious untruth, and he was sure that David had caught the lie judging by the dark look on his face when Don told everyone goodbye.
That wasn’t the only lie. He had been holding himself together so he could keep up with Alan and Liz’s recovery. He had made his best to make Charlie think that things were okay between them. He couldn’t let himself ruin the few good moments they had; it didn’t matter if he was still deeply hurt and mad that his brother hadn’t told him about the blood samples he was going to take.
But the show would be left behind for a couple of hours. Now it was time to do what he had to do. Even if it meant to get dirty.
Walking down the corridors of the center, he arranged his sleeves a couple of times. The only time he looked up from the floor was when he talked to the person in charge, a blonde woman who treated him nicely and put some limits to the conversation he was going to have with the patient. He couldn’t touch the person inside the room; it could cause her condition to get worse than it already was.
So when he opened the door of the room, he waited a second to come in, and when he finally did it, he told himself over and over again that he was doing this for Charlie.
“Don,” Amita said as soon as her eyes landed on him.
He didn’t greet her; he walked towards the bed and stood in front of it. “Don’t you feel guilty?”
The question didn’t seem to surprise her. “Of course I do… but there’s nothing I can do to fix things. What’s done is done,” she said, putting her hand on her tummy and looking a bit scared.
“No.”
She stared at him.
“No,” Don repeated.
“What…?”
He walked towards her, closer to her. “You’re going to help me to fix everything.” She remained still, no words coming out her mouth. Trying to calm down, he ran his hands over his face. “What you’re going to do won’t hurt you. Your child will be safe, of course.” He took a deep breath. “I assume you don’t have any access to a cell phone.”
Amita shook her head and moved away from him.
“Okay...” He wanted to be clear; he knew that Amita had been through a lot, and that it had made her do a lot of horrible things, but he couldn’t forgive or pardon her actions. It was funny that at the same time he knew that he’d never hurt her. He got even closer to her, took out the extra cell phone he had with him and handed it to her. He spoke from the heart. “I could say that this is not personal, but it is. I liked you, Amita, I really did. But it’s my family that you’re hurting, and I’m not going to let you do that.” He saw the way her chest went up and down and heard her breathing accelerating. He went towards the door, but before crossing the threshold, he turned around one more time. “When the right time comes, if you still care for Charlie a tiny bit, you’ll help me. You will answer that phone and you’ll do it… for him.”
With that, he left. He didn’t turn to see how Amita reacted. As he walked through the corridors again, he couldn’t help but comparing the place with the hospital he had been at a few hours ago. Picking up his father had been a good experience; but in a way, it reminded him of his mother’s death and the days after the kidnapping Amita had planned and executed.
As he walked out of the building, he came to the conclusion that hospitals weren’t nice in certain contexts. But he also knew that in those same situations, psychiatric centers were definitely worse.
Series: In the Arms of the Wicked, Part 14/?
Characters: David, Don, Liz, Charlie/Colby, Larry/Megan, Alan, Amita.
Rating: PG-13.
Spoilers: None.
Warnings: None.
Summary: We’re aware of this lie and yet we’re all going to go with it. Even if it’s obvious that it won’t make things better. Let’s see how it turns out.
Feedback: Yes, please. :)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything (characters, situations, etcetera) except my OCs.
Beta: The fabulous nyctophobia76.
Previous chapters: Click here.
Previous chapter
Next chapter
Part 14: "Hard Decisions"
A hospital again…
But no tests today. This time, David actually wanted to be there. The perfume of the bouquet of white lilies he held whispered calmness and hope.
He had called Jay. His sister never disappointed him; she was always willing to talk, to listen to his doubts on his job and the life back in the Bronx. Her voice was always inside his head when he was going through a hard time. “Don’t give up, David. Don’t give up,” she always said.
She was the only person who could save him from falling apart. Colby was his friend and his partner, a wonderful guy to talk to, but there were things that not even friendship could fix. Family, on the other hand, was a way to keep the balance right and stay away from the crazy life of an FBI job.
But there were people who really knew how to put a smile on David’s face and who didn’t exactly belong to his family. When he got to the room he was looking for, he smiled and leaned on the doorframe, hiding the bouquet from the other person’s view. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Liz greeted him from her bed, as her lips curved in a friendly smile. “Come in, how are you?”
“Okay. I’m okay.” David stepped into the room and let her see the flowers he had bought for her.
“Ah, David…” She seemed to be so happy, just by knowing that someone had taken the time to have a nice gesture towards her. “You shouldn’t have…”
“I wanted to, so you don’t get to protest.”
“All right, all right…”
David caught her smirking as he arranged the new lilies in the same vase where he’d put the ones he had bought for her before. “What is it?” he asked.
Liz looked into his eyes, and her voice was completely honest when she said, “Thank you. I have to admit that I like how white lilies match the pink ones you brought me the other day. It gives this place a little color, you know.”
Looking around the room, David had to admit that she was right. A hospital room wasn’t exactly warm, and the flowers gave it a bit of a nice, cozy touch. He took a deep breath, feeling glad that his gift was appreciated. Then he sat on the bed, beside her and put a hand on her arm. “You did an excellent job inside that house, Liz.”
“Amita knocked me down. I didn’t even know that was possible, but people who are put into a lot of stress are capable of anything,” she joked.
He shook his head. “Stop making excuses. We all know that you did your best. And your best is one hell of a kick ass.”
This time she laughed; it was good to see her happy after what she had been through. “Have you guys been having fun?”
David smiled playfully. “Not that much without you in the field.”
“Of course,” she said, grinning at his joke, but then she slowly became more serious. “So… did they take the samples for the test?”
A little shiver ran down David’s spine when he remembered the moment the needle had caught his blood, and the swab had taken some of his DNA. “Yeah. Now all we have to do is wait. Results will be available in about a month; three weeks if we’re lucky.”
Liz seemed to be looking for a deeper answer than that. David knew how obvious it was when he looked away, and he couldn’t blame her for leaning over and asking, “I can’t tell you that I know what it feels like, but I can assure you that I’ll be here if you ever need to talk…”
He took a breath, looking into her eyes. Sharing his decisions seemed to be the right thing to do in that moment. “I’ve called my sister Jay. I think that talking to her will help me deal with it. Well… I hope.”
“Just remember that there are people who care about you, okay? We’re not only partners. We’re friends for a reason,” she muttered, taking his hands. “I mean, David,” she said softly, “life is all about making hard decisions, but that doesn’t mean that you have to be alone.”
Feeling overwhelmed by Liz’s support, David couldn’t restrain from saying, “Is this the effect of bringing you flowers?”
She obviously caught the meaning of his joke and laughed.
“Lilies have a much deeper meaning than I thought,” he added, giving her a confused, funny face.
Her answer was quick and amusing. “Oh, you’d be surprised.”
Feeling strangely better than when he had first come in, David got up from the bed and offered Liz his hand. “C’mon, I’ll help you,” he said, helping her to leave the bed and stand up properly; she refused to leave the lilies back at the hospital. As he took her things and they walked together out of the room, shoulder by shoulder, there was something David couldn’t deny.
Maybe friendship couldn’t fix everything; but it certainly helped finding the way home.
XxX
Charlie was definitely thrilled to see his father today. He couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when he got out of the hospital and into Don’s apartment, where he’d live with his two sons temporarily again.
Watching Alan from the door, Charlie shook his head. His father truly hated being on a bed, not able to make any decisions by himself without a doctor’s approval. Now he was up, organizing his crosswords, newspapers and books on the bed, trying to make them fit into a medium-size bag.
“Dad,” Charlie said, moving into the room.
Alan turned to him at the sound of his voice. “Charlie, son! It’s so good to see you,” he said and gave Charlie a hug.
“You look good! You’ve got color.” When he looked around, the mathematician noticed a table in which several little containers rested; they had traces of a viscous, strange, green substance. “And you’re eating well.”
“Unfortunately, too much of this so called ‘jelly.’ It’s the only barely eatable thing I could find,” Alan muttered, giving him a disgusted face. “I found my glasses, though. My memory’s slowly getting better, thank God.”
Smiling, Charlie started getting his father’s stuff. “I’ll help you carry all this, you don’t worry about anything.”
Suddenly, Don came in looking worried, but as soon as his eyes landed on Alan, a big smile spread over his face. “Hey, ready to go home?”
Charlie stared at his brother, thinking of how weird he’d been that day. They hadn’t talked as much as usual; all they had done was making jokes to each other. In a way, it was strange and it felt like something else -something dangerously close to anger- was hidden underneath funny words.
“You mean your apartment? As long as you’ve cleaned up a bit…” Alan muttered, smirking when Don patted his shoulder.
It was so wonderful for Charlie to see his family interacting again like in the old days for a while, after so much pain and trouble. He couldn’t stop smiling as Don helped him put Alan’s things inside the bag. He and his brother glanced at their father, then at each other and smiled reciprocally.
Alan frowned. “Hey, what are yo-?”
“Good morning, Mr. Eppes,” a deep voice said, and Colby was soon shaking Alan’s hand. “I’m glad you’re up and running, again.”
“Colby… Hi,” Alan muttered, looking surprised. Charlie felt his father’s eyes on him as he kept packing.
“We went to get a cup of coffee last night when we got the news,” he explained, smiling sweetly, sending an implicit message to his father.
Of course, Alan caught the meaning of it; he looked into Charlie’s eyes, and his confused expression turned into a happy, impressed one. “Oh… I… that’s great!”
“And you haven’t even seen what we’ve got for you,” Colby muttered. When he approached Don and Charlie to help them carry all the bags, his lover called him over for a moment. Their entire conversation was in whispers, since Alan wasn’t supposed to know about their little surprise.
“Was he okay when you left him?” Charlie said, trying not to raise his voice.
“Yeah.”
“Did you check the…” Don started.
“Yes, I did, Don, for the fiftieth time,” Colby whispered.
“Well, I’m being cautious. I want to have a home when I actually go home…”
“Okay, I’m going to ask again,” Alan interrupted them, speaking from the other side of the room. “What are you guys up to?”
Charlie shook his head, as he and the others started taking the bags. “Ah, it’s nothing, Dad. Larry’s making us all breakfast today, that’s all.”
Alan stared at his youngest son as if he was crazy. “Breakfast? Larry’s going to cook? Am I the only one who sees the potential danger of it?”
“Chemistry has certainly helped him to find his culinary side.”
“Culinary side?” Alan blinked. “Okay, now I’m officially scared.”
Colby and Don laughed, but Charlie added, “Don’t worry, Megan’s supposed to help him out…”
“… and keeping him from blowing up my apartment,” Don continued.
“That’s if we’re lucky, of course,” Colby finished with a smirk that Charlie considered more than cute.
“Colby, are you absolutely sure that you checked…”
“Yes, Don!” It was fun for Charlie to see Colby roll his eyes at his brother and shook his head as he got out of the room.
“Well, if you didn’t, at least I asked,” Don responded, taking another bag and leaving. “C’mon, Charlie. Let’s take the old man home.” He laughed and Charlie felt happiness again for the first time in days.
“Really? I’ll show you what this ‘old man’ can do,” Alan assured them as he confidently walked out with them.
XxX
Liz felt herself glowing when she reunited with the rest of the team. As if seeing David smile for a moment hadn’t been great enough, Colby and Charlie seemed to have fixed things between them somehow and looked relaxed and less tired. Alan was coming home too, and she was more than happy that the Eppes family could spend some time alone. Apparently, they were going to live in Don’s apartment until the house stopped being considered part of the India case.
Everyone greeted her and told her that they were glad to see her walking again, even if she needed some help; David smiled at the comment, and Liz said, “I hope you have a great time together. You truly deserve it.”
“We?” Charlie asked, as Don smirked.
“Yeah, why?”
“You’re not thinking of going back to your apartment right now,” Colby muttered.
Don’s smirk went wider. “Oh, no, miss, you’re going home with us to take the first meal of the day.”
It was such a sweet thing for Don to say, until Alan added, “Larry’s making us breakfast.”
“You’re kidding,” she snapped.
“I wished I was.”
A bit worried, Liz looked around and noticed how all men nodded. Colby and Don seemed to be as worried as her, while David kept shaking his head, and Alan looked thoughtful. But even if Larry was in charge of breakfast today, they didn’t seem to really care. There were more important things happening at the moment.
“In that case,” she informed them, trying to restrain a laugh, “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Together, we can work things out. We have to.
XxX
Don’s kitchen wasn’t exactly what Megan could call a warm place to cook; the cabinet was full of appliances that seemed to have never been used, and the room seemed to have been occupied only a few times, judging from a couple of cheese stains she could see on the counter.
But that didn’t mean that the kitchen couldn’t be put in good use. Now, it smelled of cookies and brownies, the homey atmosphere filling Megan’s senses as she watched Larry. She’d tried not to give his clothes little attention, but once she had actually noticed it, it was impossible for her not to smile or giggle when her eyes landed on them. He was wearing his lab coat, his gloves and his favorite big glasses, and he was analyzing coffee brewing as if making a breakfast was a question of chemistry.
The worst part was that she had to recognize that it was exactly that.
“This is pure science,” Larry muttered as he kept still, watching the way the coffee machine worked. “Did you know that there is an entire field on chemistry that studies how several processes of brewing, temperature and other factors lead to different combinations of acids in an every day beverage like coffee?”
“I think I saw something about it on the food channel, but honestly, I didn’t think it was that complex,” she answered, smiling.
“Trust me, Megan, it is. For example, your contributions, making the cookies and brownies were certainly a display of cooking wisdom. But I already have my conclusions, so perhaps we should start getting everything ready.” The machine beeped; Larry carefully took the pot out of it and placed it on the cabinet next to him, on a cloth.
“Okay, let’s go. They’re going to love this.” We’re aware of this lie and yet we’re all going to go with it. Even if it’s obvious that it won’t make things better. Let's see how it turns out.
“I just hope they can see the efforts that making this kind of meal takes.”
Soon, they were both in the tiny dining room, getting the table ready, bringing cups and trails with cookies and croissants to it. They stood at the end of the table, and it all seemed to be perfect, until Larry muttered, “The white sector of the table looks quite remarkable.”
She smiled at his comment, remembering how passionate he had been when he’d insisted in having a part of the table with only white food. Feeling a dazzling happiness in her heart, she put an arm around his shoulders and kissed his cheek. “Yeah, I think it does look pretty good, doesn’t it?”
“Let’s bring the Devil.”
“What?” she snapped as he walked into the kitchen. But when he came back, she understood. “Ah, you meant the coffee.”
“In Europe, hundreds of years ago, coffee was considered to be the ‘Satan’s beverage.’ Then, fortunately for the victims of addiction, that name lost its religious meaning, and now all of us can enjoy it as it really wasn’t a legal drug.” As he spoke, he started pouring coffee on his mug; the steam of it filled the room with the smell of reunion and conversation.
Until the apartment’s door was open and Don, Charlie, Liz, David, Colby and Alan stood at the door; all of them remained still, watching the scene that was taking place at the dining room.
“Oh, dear,” Alan muttered, looking shocked and worried. Megan couldn’t really blame him. Looking like a mad scientist in the kitchen, plus Larry being Larry, could be easily be taken a sign of danger and chaos.
“No kitchen appliances or people were damaged during the making of this meal, I assure you,” the physicist explained. Megan laughed at the moment, and that was when everyone relaxed - almost.
“See? Nothing happened. I checked everything.” Colby smirked at Don, who just in case, ran to the kitchen, probably to see if it was still there.
“Alan, I’m so pleased to see you,” Larry said as he awkwardly walked towards his friend and hugged him, still wearing his scientist clothes and making everyone laugh at his enthusiastic way of showing appreciation.
XxX
“Larry, this is delicious,” Charlie said as he ate a chocolate chip cookie.
“Yeah, it’s truly amazing. I didn’t know you could do such a good breakfast,” Colby agreed, as he started eating another brownie. It had an exquisite taste; he had to admit that even Larry Fleinhardt had a couple of aces up his sleeve.
“Really, this is awesome, man,” David said, nodding and pouring more coffee into his mug.
Megan caressed Larry’s back. “See? Everyone sees the effort.”
With a wide smile on his face, he put his palms together. “That coffee was made using a fine grind for 5.21 minutes. Then it was brewed at almost 100°C, creating a good combination of extracted acids - mostly the chlorogenic, quinic and citric ones. I thought it’d be the most appropriate choice to greet my friends.”
Colby frowned, feeling weird after that sudden explanation. He looked around the table, seeing that everyone was glancing at each other. He couldn’t even find an answer in Charlie’s confused eyes.
“Thank you, Larry,” Alan said, breaking the ice, though from the tone of his voice, it was obvious that he was feeling as awkward as everyone else.
The physicist made a little bow. “You’re welcome.”
And then, everybody laughed, going back to their coffee. Colby was about to take another sip when Don raised his hands.
“Wait, wait. Hold on, everyone. I know that we started eating already, but I want to make a toast… It’ll be quick, I promise. There’s only one thing I want to say to all of you.” He had a big smile on his face, as the others turned to him. “Welcome back,” he said, raising his cup of coffee and looking around the table.
“Ah, that’s sweet,” Liz muttered, and Alan thanked his son.
Then, breakfast continued to be wonderful. It was a strange scene for Colby to judge, since the team didn’t usually share so much time together; but from his view, everyone around the table had something to be thankful for. He had a long road ahead of him, a road that he’d walk with Charlie.
Trying not to be obvious, he reached down the table for his lover’s hand and smiled at his coffee when Charlie, looking away, took his and entwined their fingers. Maybe he knew that a simple breakfast wouldn’t fix things, but for a moment, he felt the luckiest man in the world.
XxX
Don had to leave his apartment so early. Breakfast wasn’t over when he excused himself, saying that Carl needed him at the office. It was an obvious untruth, and he was sure that David had caught the lie judging by the dark look on his face when Don told everyone goodbye.
That wasn’t the only lie. He had been holding himself together so he could keep up with Alan and Liz’s recovery. He had made his best to make Charlie think that things were okay between them. He couldn’t let himself ruin the few good moments they had; it didn’t matter if he was still deeply hurt and mad that his brother hadn’t told him about the blood samples he was going to take.
But the show would be left behind for a couple of hours. Now it was time to do what he had to do. Even if it meant to get dirty.
Walking down the corridors of the center, he arranged his sleeves a couple of times. The only time he looked up from the floor was when he talked to the person in charge, a blonde woman who treated him nicely and put some limits to the conversation he was going to have with the patient. He couldn’t touch the person inside the room; it could cause her condition to get worse than it already was.
So when he opened the door of the room, he waited a second to come in, and when he finally did it, he told himself over and over again that he was doing this for Charlie.
“Don,” Amita said as soon as her eyes landed on him.
He didn’t greet her; he walked towards the bed and stood in front of it. “Don’t you feel guilty?”
The question didn’t seem to surprise her. “Of course I do… but there’s nothing I can do to fix things. What’s done is done,” she said, putting her hand on her tummy and looking a bit scared.
“No.”
She stared at him.
“No,” Don repeated.
“What…?”
He walked towards her, closer to her. “You’re going to help me to fix everything.” She remained still, no words coming out her mouth. Trying to calm down, he ran his hands over his face. “What you’re going to do won’t hurt you. Your child will be safe, of course.” He took a deep breath. “I assume you don’t have any access to a cell phone.”
Amita shook her head and moved away from him.
“Okay...” He wanted to be clear; he knew that Amita had been through a lot, and that it had made her do a lot of horrible things, but he couldn’t forgive or pardon her actions. It was funny that at the same time he knew that he’d never hurt her. He got even closer to her, took out the extra cell phone he had with him and handed it to her. He spoke from the heart. “I could say that this is not personal, but it is. I liked you, Amita, I really did. But it’s my family that you’re hurting, and I’m not going to let you do that.” He saw the way her chest went up and down and heard her breathing accelerating. He went towards the door, but before crossing the threshold, he turned around one more time. “When the right time comes, if you still care for Charlie a tiny bit, you’ll help me. You will answer that phone and you’ll do it… for him.”
With that, he left. He didn’t turn to see how Amita reacted. As he walked through the corridors again, he couldn’t help but comparing the place with the hospital he had been at a few hours ago. Picking up his father had been a good experience; but in a way, it reminded him of his mother’s death and the days after the kidnapping Amita had planned and executed.
As he walked out of the building, he came to the conclusion that hospitals weren’t nice in certain contexts. But he also knew that in those same situations, psychiatric centers were definitely worse.