Numb3rs fic: "semi-deliberate happenstance"
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Title: Semi-Deliberate Happenstance
Author: Keenir.
With great thanks to Pygmymuse for all the assistance, and to Mustangcandi for answering a crucial question.
Pairing/Characters: Larry Fleinhart/Nikki Betancourt, Charles Eppes; mention of Ian Edgerton, Bree Eng, Matt Li, Val Eng/Don Eppes.
Rating/Category: Mature, Gen.
Spoilers: Soft Target, Sniper Zero,
Summary: Larry talks to Charlie about relationships, and then accompanies Nikki to the movies.
Notes/Warnings: Takes place in the Dutiful AU, wherein Don and Val married at the end of Soft Target.
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters! The writers and creators do.
Confession: I wrote this for the final Numb3rsWriteoff, but I had mistakenly thought my word was gridlock.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“You know, Charles, in the past when I considered my life, I never used to contemplate Buckminsterfullerenes as an analogy.”
Charlie looked over at his teacher and friend. “Moved past the ‘captured moon’ stage, have we?” he kidded.
“I’ve lately begun to consider that it was not entirely in the realm of chance that we were introduced.”
“And I’m guessing that ‘we’ is yourself and Officer Betancourt.”
Larry nodded.
“So who fired the atom into the carbon?” Charlie asked.
“Anyone else, Charles, would treat that as a very naughty euphemism. I, however, know what you mean. And while her colleagues may have intended our blind date in jest, the fact remains that their action would not have been possible without -”
“Please don’t say ‘without an invisible Designer to guide events.’”
“I wasn’t about to. I was about to say that I never would have met Nikki, if you had not been unable to consult for the Los Angeles Police Department on one day in particular.”
So you went in my stead, while I was moping around the Garage after Don married Val. “Sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for, either in regards to the past, or to a mistake,” Larry said.
“At least not to you,” Charlie said, thankful for that much.
“If I may hazard a guess - this is either about Bree or Amita.”
“Amita.”
“Ah.” Larry knew that anybody else - even Don - would by now be expressing astonishment and-or dismay that there was a lovely young lady enthused to see Charlie, and yet Charlie was still thinking about one of his ex-students.
“I’ve gone over it in my head again and again, Larry.”
“It is never good to do that, Charles - I speak from experience there.”
“Bad idea or not, I… I miss her.” She’s happy with Matt, I know. Yet…
“Amita is still your friend, is she not? Unless I’ve missed a development. She knows you, how you think and how you work. And while that may sound ideal, Amita may have wished to avoid meeting the same fate as Mileva Marić.”
Charlie recognized the name. “Einstein’s first wife.”
Larry nodded. “We value shared interests, but there is also something to be said in regards to the principle of opposites attracting.”
“So what do you have planned for your next date?”
“Therein lies my latest quandary. Locating fine dining institutions we would both appreciate.”
“Should we apply a Baysian Filter?” Charlie asked.
“No, a filter would suggest there are a known and quantifiable number of candidates.”
“I see.”
Larry sighed. “I suspect our mathematical expertise would be put to better use were we to locate this Phantom Sniper.”
Charlie nodded. So far, someone had shot up seven street intersections and placed bomb-looking packages on highway off-ramps, with 60% of the bombs being duds. At six of the shootings thus far, the FBI had come close to arresting Ian Edgerton, believed to have gone rogue, despite him professing innocence before he escaped every time.
Charlie’s cell phone rang. And after much sentence fragments and confusion, Charlie hung up. “That was Don,” Charlie told Larry. “They just caught the Phantom Sniper, with Edgerton’s help.”
“This is good news,” Larry said.
Charlie nodded. “Yeah, yeah it is. But they didn’t call since this morning, so this was out of nowhere.”
“Until they made the arrest, did the FBI or LAPD come across any evidence which would have altered the math we provided them with this morning?”
“No,” Charlie admitted.
The next ten minutes passed with one-part silence and two-parts discussing the best places to dine dutch, given Larry’s and Bree’s selective palates.
There was a knock on the door, and Nikki stuck her head through. “Hey. You heard?”
“We did,” Larry confirmed. “Don called us not long before your timely arrival.”
“Great. Well, we should…wait, I thought you said this would be us going dutch. Where’s your date, Eppes?”
“Bree said she would meet us at the diner,” Charlie said just as Nikki’s phone rang.
“Betancourt,” Nikki said into her cell phone. “Now? Yeah, I hear - Got it. I’ll be there,” with a sigh, and hung up. Nikki said to Larry, “I’ve got to go. Friend of mine needs reinforcements at the movie theater.”
“Police business?” Larry inquired.
“No, her son’s birthday party is going to see Percy Jackson and the Olympians.”
“I could go and assist.”
“You sure?” Nikki asked.
Larry nodded, unable to recall the last time he had been surrounded by small children. He looked at Charlie.
“Not a problem,” Charlie said. “Rescheduling won’t be a problem.”
“Really?” Nikki asked.
“Charlie successfully tutored the owner’s only child,” Larry said. “I suspect we could invite the entire LAPD to dinner, and not a word would be raised in protest.”
“Huh,” Nikki said.
“That’s an exaggeration,” Charlie said.
*.*.*.*.*
As the theater doors opened to release all the viewers into the parking lot, Larry and Nikki looked over the shorter statures and could easily picture in their minds what the single-lane road out of here would look like in a mere five minutes. ‘A nightmare’ would be a polite description of the automobile congestion.
Feeling someone tug on his pants, Larry looked down and said, “Yes?”
“If those gods were real, and you could ask them something, what would you ask them?”
An excellent question, Larry felt. “I would ask them why our solar system does not obey the Ptolamaic model.”
All the kids looked at him.
“Glass balls,” Nikki said, “one inside another.”
“Cool!” said one of the kids.
“Balls, spheres,” Larry said quietly to Nikki, who smiled and leaned against him. Some might have said it was the wind and the kids conspiring to bump her into him, but Larry knew Nikki was very deliberate, and this was no exception.
“Ice cream, ice cream!” was the rallying cry among the kids. But even that, nor even the slightly chilly weather, could not dampen Larry’s good cheer on this fine day. Not with Nikki beside him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The end.
.
Title: Semi-Deliberate Happenstance
Author: Keenir.
With great thanks to Pygmymuse for all the assistance, and to Mustangcandi for answering a crucial question.
Pairing/Characters: Larry Fleinhart/Nikki Betancourt, Charles Eppes; mention of Ian Edgerton, Bree Eng, Matt Li, Val Eng/Don Eppes.
Rating/Category: Mature, Gen.
Spoilers: Soft Target, Sniper Zero,
Summary: Larry talks to Charlie about relationships, and then accompanies Nikki to the movies.
Notes/Warnings: Takes place in the Dutiful AU, wherein Don and Val married at the end of Soft Target.
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters! The writers and creators do.
Confession: I wrote this for the final Numb3rsWriteoff, but I had mistakenly thought my word was gridlock.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“You know, Charles, in the past when I considered my life, I never used to contemplate Buckminsterfullerenes as an analogy.”
Charlie looked over at his teacher and friend. “Moved past the ‘captured moon’ stage, have we?” he kidded.
“I’ve lately begun to consider that it was not entirely in the realm of chance that we were introduced.”
“And I’m guessing that ‘we’ is yourself and Officer Betancourt.”
Larry nodded.
“So who fired the atom into the carbon?” Charlie asked.
“Anyone else, Charles, would treat that as a very naughty euphemism. I, however, know what you mean. And while her colleagues may have intended our blind date in jest, the fact remains that their action would not have been possible without -”
“Please don’t say ‘without an invisible Designer to guide events.’”
“I wasn’t about to. I was about to say that I never would have met Nikki, if you had not been unable to consult for the Los Angeles Police Department on one day in particular.”
So you went in my stead, while I was moping around the Garage after Don married Val. “Sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for, either in regards to the past, or to a mistake,” Larry said.
“At least not to you,” Charlie said, thankful for that much.
“If I may hazard a guess - this is either about Bree or Amita.”
“Amita.”
“Ah.” Larry knew that anybody else - even Don - would by now be expressing astonishment and-or dismay that there was a lovely young lady enthused to see Charlie, and yet Charlie was still thinking about one of his ex-students.
“I’ve gone over it in my head again and again, Larry.”
“It is never good to do that, Charles - I speak from experience there.”
“Bad idea or not, I… I miss her.” She’s happy with Matt, I know. Yet…
“Amita is still your friend, is she not? Unless I’ve missed a development. She knows you, how you think and how you work. And while that may sound ideal, Amita may have wished to avoid meeting the same fate as Mileva Marić.”
Charlie recognized the name. “Einstein’s first wife.”
Larry nodded. “We value shared interests, but there is also something to be said in regards to the principle of opposites attracting.”
“So what do you have planned for your next date?”
“Therein lies my latest quandary. Locating fine dining institutions we would both appreciate.”
“Should we apply a Baysian Filter?” Charlie asked.
“No, a filter would suggest there are a known and quantifiable number of candidates.”
“I see.”
Larry sighed. “I suspect our mathematical expertise would be put to better use were we to locate this Phantom Sniper.”
Charlie nodded. So far, someone had shot up seven street intersections and placed bomb-looking packages on highway off-ramps, with 60% of the bombs being duds. At six of the shootings thus far, the FBI had come close to arresting Ian Edgerton, believed to have gone rogue, despite him professing innocence before he escaped every time.
Charlie’s cell phone rang. And after much sentence fragments and confusion, Charlie hung up. “That was Don,” Charlie told Larry. “They just caught the Phantom Sniper, with Edgerton’s help.”
“This is good news,” Larry said.
Charlie nodded. “Yeah, yeah it is. But they didn’t call since this morning, so this was out of nowhere.”
“Until they made the arrest, did the FBI or LAPD come across any evidence which would have altered the math we provided them with this morning?”
“No,” Charlie admitted.
The next ten minutes passed with one-part silence and two-parts discussing the best places to dine dutch, given Larry’s and Bree’s selective palates.
There was a knock on the door, and Nikki stuck her head through. “Hey. You heard?”
“We did,” Larry confirmed. “Don called us not long before your timely arrival.”
“Great. Well, we should…wait, I thought you said this would be us going dutch. Where’s your date, Eppes?”
“Bree said she would meet us at the diner,” Charlie said just as Nikki’s phone rang.
“Betancourt,” Nikki said into her cell phone. “Now? Yeah, I hear - Got it. I’ll be there,” with a sigh, and hung up. Nikki said to Larry, “I’ve got to go. Friend of mine needs reinforcements at the movie theater.”
“Police business?” Larry inquired.
“No, her son’s birthday party is going to see Percy Jackson and the Olympians.”
“I could go and assist.”
“You sure?” Nikki asked.
Larry nodded, unable to recall the last time he had been surrounded by small children. He looked at Charlie.
“Not a problem,” Charlie said. “Rescheduling won’t be a problem.”
“Really?” Nikki asked.
“Charlie successfully tutored the owner’s only child,” Larry said. “I suspect we could invite the entire LAPD to dinner, and not a word would be raised in protest.”
“Huh,” Nikki said.
“That’s an exaggeration,” Charlie said.
*.*.*.*.*
As the theater doors opened to release all the viewers into the parking lot, Larry and Nikki looked over the shorter statures and could easily picture in their minds what the single-lane road out of here would look like in a mere five minutes. ‘A nightmare’ would be a polite description of the automobile congestion.
Feeling someone tug on his pants, Larry looked down and said, “Yes?”
“If those gods were real, and you could ask them something, what would you ask them?”
An excellent question, Larry felt. “I would ask them why our solar system does not obey the Ptolamaic model.”
All the kids looked at him.
“Glass balls,” Nikki said, “one inside another.”
“Cool!” said one of the kids.
“Balls, spheres,” Larry said quietly to Nikki, who smiled and leaned against him. Some might have said it was the wind and the kids conspiring to bump her into him, but Larry knew Nikki was very deliberate, and this was no exception.
“Ice cream, ice cream!” was the rallying cry among the kids. But even that, nor even the slightly chilly weather, could not dampen Larry’s good cheer on this fine day. Not with Nikki beside him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The end.