Fic: Christmas Eve, Chapter 1 (Numb3rs, Charlie / Colby, Don / Martin, David / Ian)
Title: Christmas Eve, Chapter 1
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
”Look at it.” Colby beamed. ”Just look at it.”
”Colby…. It’s a turkey, not a piece of art.”
”Yeah, but just look at it. I called my mom and I asked how she used to do it.”
”And it looks great and I’m sure it will taste great, but I don’t want you to cry when we start cutting it.”
”I know…. Don’t touch it yet.” Colby grabbed his cell phone. ”I want to take a picture of it.”
”Don’t you still have the picture of last years turkey?”
”Yeah, but this is my big feat. It’s just like my mom’s.”
”Okay, okay….” Charlie chuckled. ”Have your moment of afterglow, I’ll start setting the table.”
---------------------------------------------------
“Love you too. Bye.” Martin hung up and hooked the phone into a charger.
“How are your folks?” Don stepped out of the bedroom. “Blue or red?”
“What?”
“Shirt.”
“Red, and they’re good. They `re gonna start Christmas dinner soon.”
“So what’s wrong?”
“Why do you think something’s wrong?”
“You got that Holiday Blues tone going on.”
“My sisters are spending the holidays with our parents.”
“Did you wanna go there?”
“No, it’s not about it….” Martin tapped his fingers against the table nervously. “I tried to call Joanna too.”
“How long has it been?”
“Almost ten years. None of us has spoken to her.”
“Ten years?”
“She quit college and just took off. She was always really…. volatile, but…. I don’t know. I called in some favours and I got a number for her landlord in Philadelphia, but he said she left three months ago.”
“I could do some enquiries if you-”
“No. If she wants to contact me or my parents or any of us she knows where we are. She doesn’t wanna be found.”
“Why did she leave?”
“I’m not sure. She was the youngest child. She was always mom’s little girl.”
“What did you sisters think about it?” Don grinned. “I know all about pampered younger siblings….”
“Nothing like that. There was a three year gap between her and Cath, she was thrilled because she wasn’t the youngest one anymore. She…. She always complained that we set the bar too high. So she went to the opposite direction.”
“She became the trouble maker.” Don finished.
“Exactly”
“So why did you try to contact her now?”
“It’s my Christmas tradition. I try to contact her and she does her best to avoid all of us.” Martin grabbed his coat and pulled in on. “Ready to go?”
“Yeah. You need to make more calls?”
“No, I’m done. Mom send you a big Merry Christmas and a kiss under the mistletoe.”
“When do I get it?”
“You’re going to fly to San Diego to kiss my mom?”
“I thought you were handling it.”
“But we don’t have a mistletoe.”
“I got my mistletoe briefs on.”
“What happened to reindeers?”
“They were too tight.”
“Let’s get back to that when we come home. I promised Bobby we’d pick him up on the way, he’s not exactly familiar with the L.A. landscape.”
“How long has he lived here?”
“Four months, and you’d be lost here too if you had just moved here.”
“Maybe.”
“No maybes. Let’s roll.”
---------------------------------------------------
“I’m not coming.” Ian stated and lifted his feet onto the coffee table. “Have fun.”
“It’s a Christmas dinner. Put on a civilised face and fake it.” David pulled his coat on and gave him a stern glance. “You’ve been avoiding everyone ever since you came back.”
“I don’t work with them anymore. Why would I go and see them?”
“You really wanna have a fight about this, don’t you? Well, I’m not gonna do it. I’ll take Caroline and we`ll go and have a fun evening. You can go ahead and rot in front of the TV if you want.”
“I don’t want to go there and they don’t want me to come. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.”
“They wouldn’t have invited you if they-”
“They invited me because they invited you and Car. I can already see how it goes. Charlie’s clueless, Granger’s too busy playing happy hostess to notice anything, Don’s grinding his teeth and waiting for a chance to shoot me, and Fridegord acts like everything`s normal.”
“So you’re too scared to go.”
“I’m not.”
“Well, that’s what it sounds like. You don’t wanna face Martin because he saved your ass by not pressing charges, you don’t wanna face Don because he wants to beat you to mush and you don’t wanna hang around Charlie or Colby because their life is on tracks. Really mature, Edgerton.”
“Daddy?” Little girl stepped out of her bedroom. “I can’t get my hair right.” Her blond hair was braided but the en of the braid was untied.
“Come here, honey.” David took a small pink hair doughnut from her and tied the end of her braid. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah.” She eyed Ian who was looking slightly embarrassed. “We’re going, right?”
“Yeah, we’re going.” David assured. “He’s feeling little bit squeaky, but we’ll go without him and have fun.”
They put on their shoes and walked to the door. David turned to give Ian one more look.
“Last chance.”
Ian leaned back against the couch cushions and started channel surfing.
Chapter 2