Fic: Planning Ahead, Chapter 1/3 (Numb3rs, Charlie / Colby, Don / Martin)
Title: Planning Ahead, Chapter 1/3
Pair: Charlie Eppes / Colby Granger,
Don Eppes / Martin Fridegord
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc.
Feedback: Always Welcome
NUMB3RS Main List
Don dumped his dusty suitcases on the floor. He was about to march to the kitchen when he heard a faint sound of a conversation. He followed the voices to the study. Martin was sitting behind his desk glancing through a thick pile of papers. In front of him was a young man who kept fiddling nervously.
“What’s going on here?”
Martin lifted his gaze from the papers. The young man looked jumpy enough to run away as fast as he could.
“You two haven’t met. Don, this is Bobby. Bobby, Don.”
“Nice to meet you.” Don gave the kid a nod. “The janitor, right?”
“No.” Martin corrected. “My assistant. The same guy you usually talk to when you call my office.”
“Sorry.” Don gave Bobby an apologetic grin. “But it’s nice to match a voice with a face.”
“Yeah. You’re not exactly what I thought you’d be.”
“What did you expect?”
“Someone older. And taller. And balder. And-”
“Okay, that’s enough.” Martin interrupted. “We’ll be gone the whole next week, Lara will give you stuff to do.”
“Have a nice vacation.”
“And you be careful, that woman is a real slave driver.”
The kid left and Don gave Martin a suspicious look.
“Why was he here?”
“Are you jealous? Don’t worry, he’s not my type.”
“I mean, you usually bring your job home with you, but not your assistant.”
“He brought me some papers I wanted to get done before we leave.”
“Something important?”
“More like a preliminary course. Actually, I think we should go through these together. They are all in my top-drawer, in a blue folder.”
“What are they?”
“A lot of stuff that I should have done a long time ago. First of all I updated my will.”
“Your will?”
“Yeah. And I brought all my medical records up to date, you’re my primary emergency contact. I also draw up DNR papers.”
“DNR? You mean….” Don tried to dig his memory for the abbreviation. “Do Not Resuscitate?”
“Yes. And it also covers cardiopulmonary resuscitation and life support.” Martin pulled out the next paper and added it to the blue file. “I’ve updated my insurance policies, you’re now the beneficiary.”
“Wait, wait.” He grabbed the file and slammed it against the desk. “What the hell is this?”
“It’s just a precaution.”
“You just suddenly decide to do all that? I don’t buy it.”
“Don.” Martin took a deep breath. “I’ve been in two life threatening situation within the last year. Statistically speaking I should be dead.”
“Martin-”
“Listen to me. I hope we’ll both live to be a hundred, but something may happen and if it does, I want to make it as easy for you as I can.”
“What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said. I hope we’ll never need these, but they’re here. I signed a power of attorney which gives you authorisation to handle my affairs, if I’m unable to do it myself.”
“You can’t be serious!”
“I am.” Martin pulled out another stack of papers. “One more thing.” He handed them to Don.
“What are these?”
“You know how I talk about this apartment as "our place" but you don`t? I signed the papers, we are now both listed as co-owners.”
“Stop right there. What are you doing?”
“Preparing, and hopefully it’s all for nothing. Did you find your suitcases?”
“My suitcases? You can’t go from death and apartment to suitcases!”
“I can. It’s all done. Now I’m going to leave them here in my drawer and go on with my life. End of story.”
“You just expect me to forget you’re getting ready to kick the bucket?”
“No. I’m saying that I may have fifty years ahead of me and getting that stuff done gave me some peace of mind.”
Martin closed the top drawer.
--------------------------------
“I have two questions.” Colby started. “No, three…. No, just two.”
“Just ask me.” Charlie grinned. “We got some time before we’re there.”
“That’s the first question: Where are we going?”
“You haven’t figured it out yet?”
“Well….” Colby peered through the window. “Up to Big Bear?”
“And what does that tell you?”
“Your buddies cabin?”
“Yep. We got a lot of memories from that place…. Like when you hurt yourself trying to emulate that position from a sex manual….. Or when you proposed to me….”
“And when you hit me with a tire iron.”
“Yeah, that too.”
“And that kinda leads us to the second question. Why are we borrowing Mr. Hendrickson’s pick-up?”
“We’ll need the space.”
“For what? You packet a weeks worth of food, but we could have shoved that into my car.”
“You missed the traditional Christmas, Idaho style, so we’re doing the next best thing. Weekend in the woods, snow everywhere, and when we go back we’ll pick a tree and tie it to the back.”
“We’re picking a Christmas tree?” Colby looked like a kid on a Christmas morning.
“If you’re good.”
“I’ll be good. You got an axe?”
“It’s Friday and we’re not driving back till Sunday.”
“I know, but I want to roam around a bit, and check all the candidates.”
“They’re trees.”
“They’re not just trees, they’re symbols of Christmas!”
“I thought that was the festivity scene.”
“That too, but we agreed we would keep everything religious outside, so it won’t spoil the Christmas.” Colby leaned closer and planted a kiss on Charlie’s cheek. “And thanks for the weekend.”
“Say what you say, but I’m not touching an axe.”
“And I wouldn’t let you. I’ve had more injuries with you than in the job.”
“A man should know his own limits, and flexibility is not exactly your strong suit.”
“And the tire iron incident?”
“That was your fault.”
--------------------------------
“Here you go.” Martin handed Don a wad of wet wipes.
“What am I supposed to do with these?”
“You’ll clean your suitcases.”
“Seriously?”
“After seeing that amount of dust on them? Seriously.”
“They’ve been at Chuck’s garage since I came back to L.A.” Don shrugged. “And I bought them from a second hand store.”
“And if I hadn’t pestered you to dig them out from the garage, you’d be living off my suitcases and your old backbag.”
“Speaking of packing, you think I could do some Christmas shopping in Sweden? Some small tourist stuff.”
“Sure, but haven’t you finished your Christmas shopping yet?”
“I haven’t even started yet.”
“I had mine done before the end of September.”
“Of course you had…. What did you get for me?”
“Don’t even try, you’ll see when we get to Christmas.”
“So I have to wait till Christmas day?”
“Actually, if we go by Scandinavian traditions, you’ll get it on Christmas eve.”
“You know what I wanted for Christmas when I was a kid? Well, not for Christmas, but we got something small anyway because we didn’t get normal Christmas presents like the neighbours kids.”
“I know you and Charlie got Hanukah gifts so don’t try to give me some sob story. You got presents.”
“How did you know?”
“I’ve seen all your kiddie photos.” Martin grinned. “You’re mom was really eager to show them off.”
“I just asked you to guess what I wanted as kid. No talking about embarrassing photos.”
“Not even about that one where you were dressed up as a pumpkin?”
“It was Halloween! And it was a dog!”
“Halloween?”
“No, my wish! I always wanted a dog, but mom was too allergic so I couldn’t get one.” Don paused to think about it. “But she said the same thing when I wanted a goldfish….”
“Don, I know where you’re going with this. We can’t get a dog.”
“Why not? Like they said in that TV-show: It’s not just for life, it’s for Christmas.”
“I appreciate the way you’re trying to adapt to the whole living-with-a-man thing, but quoting Absolutely Fabulous is just too gay.”
“Fine, I wont do that again, but why can’t we get a dog?”
“Because we can’t take care of it the way it should be taken care of. We’re both working irregular hours, and I have to travel now and then. Dog needs regularity, and someone to take it for a walk, and all that.”
“I know….” Don grunted.
“But we could think about getting some other pet. Maybe a cat.”
“Cat?”
“They’re furry and fluffy too, and they don’t need the same amount of attention. They just need someone to give them food and fresh water and clean their litter box.”
“A cat? You can’t take a cat with you when you go for a jog.”
“And you don’t go for a jog anyway, so that doesn’t really matter.”
“They’re creepy. They creep around and they got claws and teeth.”
“Don….” Martin took a good look at him and started laughing. “You meet hardcore criminals all the time and you’re scared of cats.”
“I’m not scared of them!”
“I saw the look on your face, you’re scared of them.”
“Well…. They’re….. creepy. You know…. slinky.”
“I had a cat when I was a kid, they are great pets.”
“Maybe, but that would be like a total stereotype: A man couple and litter of cats as substitutes for kids.”
“I was just talking about one cat, preferably a grown one. But we can think about it when we come back.”
“Where are we going?”
“To Sweden. Tomorrow. Ring any bells?”
“Right….”
“Yeah. So start packing.”
Chapter 2/3