Fic: Minor Competition 1/2 (Numb3rs/ Colby Granger/ Charlie Eppes)
Title: Minor Competition 1/2
Author: FinnishSphinx
Rating: PG
Fandom: Numb3rs
Pairings: Colby Granger/ Charlie Eppes
Spoilers: None really
Disclaimer: They are not mine, just using them for amusement...
Feedback: Makes the World Turn.
Charlie slumped down on the bed next to Colby and let out a deep, satisfied sigh. He
snuggled closer to his bedmate and placed his head against Colby`s chest.
”You know… you are definitely improving.” Charlie teased.
”Well, practice makes perfect.” Colby was still gasping for air.
”And we both know how eager you are to practice.”
”Are you saying I`m easy?”
”When we first went to bed, you didn`t even know my last name!”
”That was one time!”
”And every time I start talking about search patterns in front of the team, you get that
look on you face.
”What look?”
”The one that looks like you’re about to rip my clothes off.”
”Oh, that…”
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”Ready for lunch?” Charlie sat down on Colby`s desk, while the team was getting their
things and pulling on their coats. “Costa said they serve really good lasagna.”
“Who?” Don was still clearing his desk.
“Steve Costa, from engineering, remember? You run into him in my office and knocked
him down.”
“It was an accident!” Don grinned and answered his phone. “Eppes. Who?
What does he want? Didn`t say? Okay, send him up with somebody. Thanks.”
“What was it? Do you need to stay?” Charlie seemed worried.
“I don`t know… Colby, how many friends do you have in L.A.?”
“Not many, with these hours.”
“Well anyway, there`s a guy in the lobby who wants to see you and claims to be a
friend of yours.”
“What`s his name?”
“Didn`t want to tell. Rosa from the reception is sending him up.”
Right then the elevator let out a cling and a large guy stepped out, escorted by one
of the new rookies. They headed over to the teams workstations and Colby`s eyes
went wide.
“Granger!” The guy grabbed Colby and pulled him into a big bear hug. All the
others were staring at the two men.
“Sorry.” Colby stammered. “This is Gary Thournton, we were in Afghanistan
together. Gary, this is my team. Don Eppes, Megan Reeves, David Sinclair and
Charlie Eppes, he`s a consultant.”
“Two Eppes`s?”
“Brothers.” Colby explained. “What are you doing here? I thought you went
back to Dallas.”
“I did, but then I got a job here. Just moved few weeks ago. I heard you ended up
here too, so I thought I would dig you up.”
“Great, we were just gonna go have lunch you want to come with us?”
“I just had luch, I was hoping you would have time for a cup of coffee or
something.”
“Well, we can go without you and you two could have something on that café
across the street. You probably have a lot of stuff to catch up.”
“Sounds good to me.” Colby agreed.
“Speak for yourself.” Megan grinned. “Now I have just three men left. I`m used
to a lot of male attention.”
“Maybe you can pick up somebody from the restaurant.” David suggested.
“Okay, everybody start moving, our lunch hour isn`t that long.” Don grunted.
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Colby settled more comfortably on the break room couch. The cafe had been
a nice place and the conversation had flown easily. They had just come back
to the office and Gary was still talking about his new job in a security company.
“……and then they said I have to start in three weeks. Think about that, three
weeks! Anyway, I think I`ve talked more than enough about me. What about
you? Your team seems nice.”
“Yeah, they are great. It took a while to get the army mindset out of my head,
though.”
“I know what you mean. I takes some getting used to. By the way, I wanted to
ask you something.”
“What?”
“The whole fed thing… I can see your boss and that other guy, Sinclair doing
that stuff but that lady and that curly guy…”
“Well, Megan`s actually a shrink. Or a profiler. Or something like that, I`ve never
really figured it out. But if she starts asking about you relationship with your
mother, you better answer her nicely or she will kick your teeth in.” Both men
laughed at the description.
“Your joking, right?”
“I`m not. She could kick your as without breaking a sweat.”
“Sounds promising…” Gary grinned. “And that curly guy?”
“Charlie`s here as a consultant. He just comes to help us on cases now and
then. He`s a professor in CalSci.”
“What kind of professor?”
“Mathematics.”
“And he consults your team on your cases.”
“It`s not just our cases, the other teams are competing for him nowadays too."
Colby laughed. “Good thing his big brother is our team leader.”
“I guess. Anyway, I we`ve covered pretty much everything about work. What
about personal? Are you seeing anyone?”
Colby froze. Of course he had known it would come up, but when it was time
to actually say it, he couldn`t get it out. “I`m…. hmmm..”
“Great, I was thinking we should go somewhere tonight. I`ve been in touch with
some of the other guys too, we could have single guy`s nigh out. Just like old
times.”Gary was too excited to notice to look on Colby`s face.
“Sounds good, you should do it.” Charlie`s voice made both men jump up from
the couch.
“When did you get back?” Colby`s was starting to panic.
“A while ago. You two seemed so wrapped up we didn`t want to interrupt.”
Charlie seemed completely calm leaning against the doorframe.
“I need to get going, anyway. I`ll call you later about tonight, OK?” Gary got
up and grabbed his coat.
“I think I`ll take the elevator with you, I need to get to the office too.” Charlie
added and followed Gary out of the break room. Colby was left sitting on the
couch, staring with his mouth open. Knowing Charlie the real was just forming,
and when it would finally come…. Colby groaned and buried his head to his
hands. It would not be pretty.
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“Charlie?” Colby knocked on the door and stepped into Charlie`s office.
“I… Don asked me to bring you these.” He placed a stack of folders on the
desk. “Are you mad at me?”
“Mad about what? About the fact, that you removed me from existence?”
“Charlie, it just came out of the blue, I panicked! I`ve known him for a long
time and… and..” He wasn`t sure how to finish his sentence.
“If it was so hard to tell your buddy your seeing a guy, you could have just
said you were seeing someone, and stop there.” Charlie sat down on the
edge of his desk. “Anyway, I`m not mad at you.”
“Your not?” Colby was now genuinely surprised. Charlie`s reaction was
nothing like he had expected.
“No, you just go ahead and have your night out with old pals. I`ll have my fun
tomorrow night.” Charlie smirked and waited for Colby to ask.
“What happens tomorrow?”
“I have a date.”
“A date! With who?”
“Gary, of course. He asked me in the elevator, when we were leaving.”
“He asked ….” Colby`s mind was about to shut down completely.
“Yes, he did. Probably a good thing.”
“Good thing!”
“Yeah.” Charlie grinned. “You can consider this to be your
punishment. And I think a little bit of competition will do you
a lot of good.”