Fic: Reasons & Consequences, Chapter 5 (Numb3rs, Charlie / Colby, Don / Martin, Ian / David)
Title: Reasons & Consequences, Chapter 5
Fandom: Numb3rs
Pair: Charlie Eppes / Colby Granger,
Don Eppes / Martin Fridegord,
David Sinclair / Ian Edgerton
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc.
Feedback: Always Welcome
NUMB3RS Main List
Reasons & Consequences, Chapter 1
Reasons & Consequences, Chapter 2
Reasons & Consequences, Chapter 3
Reasons & Consequences, Chapter 4
“A lot of milk and four sugars.” Colby set a large cup of coffee in front of Charlie and sat down on the opposite side of the small table. The hospital cafeteria was practically empty, only other customers were two nurses sitting at the other end of the room.
“What?” Charlie snapped out of his thoughts.
“Coffee. And you look like you need it.”
“Yeah, it’s been a long day.”
“Are you alright?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You and Martin go way back.”
Charlie took a long gulp from his mug. “I don’t think it has even hit me yet. All those people and just six survived.”
“Do you want to go see him again?”
“Not yet. Probably better if we give Don some privacy.” Charlie stared down at his mug.
“Yeah, they’ve been through quite a scare.” Colby noticed Charlie’s peculiar blank expression. “Charlie?”
Charlie didn’t respond.
“Charlie?” Colby waved his hand in front of his face. “Babe?” He got up from his seat and kneeled down next to Charlie, shaking him gently by the shoulder. “Are you okay?”
Finally Charlie blinked and turned to look at him.
“What are you doing?”
“Are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be? And why are you shaking me. You made me spill my coffee.”
“You spaced out.”
“I did?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s nothing new, I do that all the time when I’m working.”
“That wasn’t the same kinda thing. You were out of it for almost a minute.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. What’s the last thing you remember?”
“You said something about how Don and Martin had a real scare.”
“And after that you went all zombie on me.”
“I’m fine. Really.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I just need a good night sleep.”
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“How are we doing here?” Doctor Walden walked into the room, startling both Don and Martin.
“Pretty good now that you took off the oxygen mask.” Martin grinned.
“Are you well enough to talk with me for a while?”
“Sure. Can you give me that?” He pointed to the nightstand and Don handed him the glass of water. He took a sip to lubricate his dry throat. “Okay, shoot.”
“We first misidentified another passenger, because he was wearing your coat. Can you tell me who he was?”
“Rob.” Martin breathed heavily. “Robert Holton, he works in the same company. He kept saying it was cold, so I lent him my coat.”
“Why did you put your ring to the pocket?” Don interrupted.
“I was working on my laptop. It kept clicking against the keyboard. Is he….” Martin paused. “Is he dead?”
“Yes.” Doctor Walden confirmed. “Only five other passenger survived.”
“Was…. Was it the storm? Is that why we went down?”
“They are investigating it. Do you remember what happened?”
Martin closed his eyes for a minute and tried to collect his thoughts. “I got up to put my laptop to my bag, and then the plane started shaking and the lights went off. And that was all.”
“That’s the last thing you remember?”
“No…. I remember…. after that…..” He took another sip of water. “I was squished between the benches and I couldn’t get up. Somebody was screaming and there was this…. dripping sound….. It smelled like kerosene….. After that it’s all black.”
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David stumbled out of the bed and tried to find his cell phone. He followed the sound to the kitchen and snapped it open.
“Sinclair.”
“Hey.” Charlie greeted. “Sorry, I woke you up. I just wanted to let you know that Martin’s one of the survivors.”
“That’s good. How did you know you woke me up?”
“I can hear it. Go back to sleep. I’ll call again tomorrow. Well…. later today.”
“Okay, bye.”
“Bye.”
David was about to go back to bed when he heard a cell phone beeping. He checked his phone, but there was no new messages. His eyes happened upon Ian’s phone, which was connected to the charger. The red light was blinking to indicate a new message.
He looked at the clock and then the cell phone. It was two in the morning. He took Ian’s phone from the charger and opened it. The message didn’t include a text, just five pictures. He glanced back to the direction of the bedroom and opened the first photograph.
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“Am I the only one who hates hospital Jell-O?” Martin complained.
“I can get you something from the cafeteria.” Don offered.
“No, just stay there. I think I’m going to go asleep again soon.” Martin reached closer to touch Don’s hand. “I’m sorry I scared you. And everyone else.”
“It wasn’t your fault. And…. Now that we’re on that topic…. I didn’t really handle it well.”
“I heard you yelled at the doctor.”
“Yeah, but…. They said you were dead…. And I didn’t believe it. They showed me your stuff and your ring and….. I didn’t know what to believe. Everything said they were right but I didn’t believe it. I kinda freaked out.”
“That’s nothing new.” Martin grinned.
“I got really drunk.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“Was that all?”
“Isn’t it enough? You were here and I went to a bar got drunk.”
“You didn’t know.”
“That doesn’t make it right!”
“Don, listen to me. I survived an accident, where a lot of people got killed. You really think something like that would upset me?”
Don had to grin.
“You’re really something.”
“So I’ve heard. And you got something that belongs to me.”
“What do you mean?”
Martin simply pointed down to Don’s left hand. Martin’s ring was still in his finger next to his own.
“I forgot that.” Don pulled it off and slipped it back to Martin’s finger.
TBC