Fic: Last Chance, Chapter 1 (Numb3rs, Charlie Eppes / Colby Granger)
Title: Last Chance, Chapter 1
Pair: Charlie Eppes / Colby Granger,
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc.
Feedback: Always Welcome
NUMB3RS Main List
Don stepped out of the elevator and spotted two familiar faces. Megan was sitting next to Colby, staring at his cell phone with a sappy look on her face.
“Baby pictures again?”
“No, I was just showing pictures of that cottage in Big Bear. Charlie took me there last year.” Colby explained. “It’s a great place, literally in the middle of nothing.”
“I still can’t understand why David would willingly go there for a week. Ian is totally different.”
“Take a look.” Colby showed him few pictures and Don’s eyes went wide.
“Why didn’t you tell me it was that kind of a place?!”
“We told you it’s a nice place. And that Charlie’s buddy owns it, so he can get it for a lower price. What part of that was so hard to understand?”
“Boys, boys.” Megan chuckled. “Lets just be happy someone gets to go away for a week. Sounds like heaven: A week in nice cottage up in the mountains, no phones, no nothing.”
“No phones?” Don interrupted.
“No phones.” Colby confirmed. “There’s no phone there and they didn’t take their cell phones. Week of total rest. Caroline’s with Ian’s mother.”
“Ian has a mother?”
“Why is that so surprising?”
“I don’t know, I always thought he was raised in a pack of wolfs….”
“I thought the same about Charlie the first time he started throwing chalk at me.”
“True.”
“And when I first saw you eating a steak. Blood and grease everywhere…..”
“Hey!”
“Don’t worry, I’m a country boy at heart. I don’t mind.”
“Have I ever told you that you’ve been pretty cheeky since you started dating Chuck?”
“I met him before I started working here, remember?”
“I remember. And I also remember the exact moment when I lost all my respect for you as a tough government agent.”
“I wanna hear this.” Megan grinned. “Come on, let it out.”
“It was Friday, I had a promising date and whole weekend to spend in bed. Then I get called back to the office, and she calls the whole thing off.”
“Because of Colby?”
“No!”
“So how is he connected to you not getting any?”
“He wasn’t connected to that.”
“Then why are you telling that story?”
“I’m getting to that point! Dad was out of town so I thought Chuck would probably need some company.”
“Let me guess…. He didn’t.”
“Yep. I went in and there was light coming from the kitchen. Granger was raiding the fridge in his Heart Me boxers.”
“What about the bulge?”
“What?”
“I want details.“ Megan demanded. “Now that we don’t have unisex locker-rooms anymore, all the co-workers are like strangers.”
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“I’m home!” Charlie announced from the door. A dark-haired teenager came from the kitchen, shooing him to stay quiet.
“I just got her to sleep.”
“Great. And thanks for coming on such short notice, Liza. I had a little emergency at work. Flu season and half the staff is sick.”
“I know, most of my class is home with a fever.” She grinned. “I never get sick, don’t know why.”
“You’re still free for tomorrow?”
“Yeah, at ten?”
“See you then.”
Liza picked up her coat and headed for the door. A minute later she came back carrying a small packet.
“Was this on the driveway when you came back?”
“No.” Charlie took the packet and shook it lightly. The was a small note taped to the parcel. He pulled it away and unfolded it. “For agent Edgerton or Sinclair.”
“Maybe it’s from the bureau.” Liza suggested.
“They wouldn’t leave it on the driveway, and they would want me to sign it.” Charlie twisted the parcel in his hands. Something caught his attention at the bottom of it. He turned it around.
“Is that what I think it is?” She asked carefully.
“I think so.”
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Colby was just about ready for a coffee break when he saw a familiar mop of curls bouncing from the elevator. A closer look at Charlie made it clear that something had happened. The math genius looked like he had seen a ghost.
“Babe?”
“Take a look at this.” Charlie pulled the parcel from his backbag. “Somebody left it on the driveway and it was addressed to Ian or David.”
Colby took the packet from Charlie. It was a small, unlabelled cardboard box. When he turned it around he saw what had made Charlie so nervous. A large dark red stain had dried up to the bottom of the box.
“Did you open it?”
“Yeah.”
Colby placed the packet on the desk and opened the lid. Charlie turned green and took a step back. Colby couldn’t do anything except stare at the content of the box.
Three freshly severed fingers.
TBC