Numb3rs: Infinity
Title: Infinity
Author: curia_regis
Pairing/Characters: Charlie, Don, Margaret and Alan Eppes.
Rating/Category: G
Spoilers: -
Summary: Charlie's dog runs away.
Author Note: I was originally going to make this a bunch of snippets on Charlie's life but I thought this worked better. Plus, the other snippets I wrote didn't fit the prompt. *g* If anybody wants to see them (they're really short, more like drabbles), just poke me.
When Charlie was five years old, his dog ran away.
His father said Newton would come back but when he didn't, Charlie decided to take matters into his own hands. He would bring Newton home himself.
Charlie spent weeks and weeks drawing up search parameters and likely escape routes from their backyard. Their neighbours found him one afternoon attempting to dig under the fence. “Newton could’ve gone through that hole,” Charlie insisted when his dad pulled him aside. “If he made it bigger!”
"Let me find him," his dad told him gently but Charlie refused to listen.
"You're not finding him!" he burst out. To his embarrassment, he could feel tears coming to his eyes. He was a boy. Boys weren't supposed to cry. Mathematicians weren't supposed to cry either!
“I’ll find him for you,” Donnie promised as he drew his silver toy pistol and ran around the yard. “If bad guys took him, I’ll get him back! Bam!”
Charlie smiled at his brother gratefully as he blinked away the tears, but in his heart he knew that only he could find Newton.
After Charlie put posters up of Newton all around the city - in what he declared were the most likely spots - his dad finally sat him down and told him that Newton was dead. Run over by a car.
Charlie couldn’t believe it. Newton had been there for him… from forever. He thought his dad cared, would never lie to him, but he was obviously wrong.
That night, he spent scribbling math equations in his equation booklet while stretched out on the couch in the garage.
Infinity kept on appearing on his page.
Infinity, infinity, infinity again until they blurred on the page, ink mixed with his tears.
Infinity was the time he thought he had with Newton. He knew it was impossible, after all, he wasn’t stupid. In fact, he had heard their neighbours whispering something about a ‘child genius’. But Don had told him the life span of a dog and he’d known immediately that Newton was only 35 years old. He should have had plenty of time.
Infinity was the number of math equations left out there in the world for him to solve. He was convinced he could solve them all.
Charlie bit his lip and drew another infinity symbol on his paper. But it wouldn’t bring Newton back.
Finally, he got up and retrieved their mother’s old Ouija board from behind some dusty boxes. He had heard his parents talking about it one day and something about the ‘sixties’ and ‘hippies’ and ‘talking to the dead’. It was the last bit he clung on to. Maybe it would work. Maybe he could see Newton again and kiss him on his wet nose and hug him one more time.
Charlie frowned when he looked at the board. This didn’t look promising at all. He closed his eyes, furrowed his brow and concentrated hard.
After a minute, he peeked out of his lashes, but nothing was happening.
Charlie could feel a lump building up at the back of his throat. He hadn’t really expected this to work. After all, it was mathematically ridiculous, but he was still hoping, hoping beyond hope. Standing up, he stood up on his tippy toes and shoved the board up on to a high shelf.
There. It wouldn’t be able to bring anybody else’s hopes up again.
Charlie sat back down again and twirled a pen in his fingers, tracing infinity into the air.
Daddy lied to me, he thought. Don’s lied to me and stolen my chocolate cookies before. Mummy will probably lie to me. He stared down at his booklet of equations and suddenly realised something. Math would never lie to him.
Math would be his infinity. It would never die, never age and never get hit by a car.
Charlie’s lip trembled one more time and he swallowed.
Bye-bye Newton, he thought.
This fic was written for the Angst vs Schmoop Challenge at numb3rswriteoff. After you’ve read the fic, please rate it by voting in the poll located here. (Your vote will be anonymous.) Rate the fic on a scale of 1 - 10 (10 being the best) using the following criteria: how well the fic fit the prompt, how angsty the fic was, and how well you enjoyed the fic. When you’re done, please check out the other challenge fic at numb3rswriteoff. Thank you!
Author: curia_regis
Pairing/Characters: Charlie, Don, Margaret and Alan Eppes.
Rating/Category: G
Spoilers: -
Summary: Charlie's dog runs away.
Author Note: I was originally going to make this a bunch of snippets on Charlie's life but I thought this worked better. Plus, the other snippets I wrote didn't fit the prompt. *g* If anybody wants to see them (they're really short, more like drabbles), just poke me.
When Charlie was five years old, his dog ran away.
His father said Newton would come back but when he didn't, Charlie decided to take matters into his own hands. He would bring Newton home himself.
Charlie spent weeks and weeks drawing up search parameters and likely escape routes from their backyard. Their neighbours found him one afternoon attempting to dig under the fence. “Newton could’ve gone through that hole,” Charlie insisted when his dad pulled him aside. “If he made it bigger!”
"Let me find him," his dad told him gently but Charlie refused to listen.
"You're not finding him!" he burst out. To his embarrassment, he could feel tears coming to his eyes. He was a boy. Boys weren't supposed to cry. Mathematicians weren't supposed to cry either!
“I’ll find him for you,” Donnie promised as he drew his silver toy pistol and ran around the yard. “If bad guys took him, I’ll get him back! Bam!”
Charlie smiled at his brother gratefully as he blinked away the tears, but in his heart he knew that only he could find Newton.
After Charlie put posters up of Newton all around the city - in what he declared were the most likely spots - his dad finally sat him down and told him that Newton was dead. Run over by a car.
Charlie couldn’t believe it. Newton had been there for him… from forever. He thought his dad cared, would never lie to him, but he was obviously wrong.
That night, he spent scribbling math equations in his equation booklet while stretched out on the couch in the garage.
Infinity kept on appearing on his page.
Infinity, infinity, infinity again until they blurred on the page, ink mixed with his tears.
Infinity was the time he thought he had with Newton. He knew it was impossible, after all, he wasn’t stupid. In fact, he had heard their neighbours whispering something about a ‘child genius’. But Don had told him the life span of a dog and he’d known immediately that Newton was only 35 years old. He should have had plenty of time.
Infinity was the number of math equations left out there in the world for him to solve. He was convinced he could solve them all.
Charlie bit his lip and drew another infinity symbol on his paper. But it wouldn’t bring Newton back.
Finally, he got up and retrieved their mother’s old Ouija board from behind some dusty boxes. He had heard his parents talking about it one day and something about the ‘sixties’ and ‘hippies’ and ‘talking to the dead’. It was the last bit he clung on to. Maybe it would work. Maybe he could see Newton again and kiss him on his wet nose and hug him one more time.
Charlie frowned when he looked at the board. This didn’t look promising at all. He closed his eyes, furrowed his brow and concentrated hard.
After a minute, he peeked out of his lashes, but nothing was happening.
Charlie could feel a lump building up at the back of his throat. He hadn’t really expected this to work. After all, it was mathematically ridiculous, but he was still hoping, hoping beyond hope. Standing up, he stood up on his tippy toes and shoved the board up on to a high shelf.
There. It wouldn’t be able to bring anybody else’s hopes up again.
Charlie sat back down again and twirled a pen in his fingers, tracing infinity into the air.
Daddy lied to me, he thought. Don’s lied to me and stolen my chocolate cookies before. Mummy will probably lie to me. He stared down at his booklet of equations and suddenly realised something. Math would never lie to him.
Math would be his infinity. It would never die, never age and never get hit by a car.
Charlie’s lip trembled one more time and he swallowed.
Bye-bye Newton, he thought.
This fic was written for the Angst vs Schmoop Challenge at numb3rswriteoff. After you’ve read the fic, please rate it by voting in the poll located here. (Your vote will be anonymous.) Rate the fic on a scale of 1 - 10 (10 being the best) using the following criteria: how well the fic fit the prompt, how angsty the fic was, and how well you enjoyed the fic. When you’re done, please check out the other challenge fic at numb3rswriteoff. Thank you!