Fic. Everyone has a Secret, Chapter 1/3 (Numb3rs, Charlie / Colby, Don / Martin, David / Ian, Bobby)
Title: Everone has a Secret, Chapter 1/3
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
“I can’t believe it…” Charlie sighed. He leaned back on the couch and took a long sip from his coffee. “You hope it will happen one day, but when it happens… it feels unreal.”
“I know…” Colby agreed. “You think this is just a one time thing?”
“No idea, but we were lucky. She’s always slept full nights, she just wakes up so damn early.”
“I don’t mind that part, just getting up.” Colby picked up his ringing cell phone from his pocket. “Granger. No, we’re just having breakfast, first night Helen didn’t wake up at four in the morning… Yeah? Sure, when? Okay, I’ll see you there.”
“New case?”
“No.” He hung up. “David wants to talk about something.”
“Don’t tell me they want us to join them for a little group session…”
“They wouldn’t.” Colby paused. “Would they?”
“I don’t know, but if they don’t mind steady threesomes, why wouldn’t they expanded to fivesomes?”
“Is that a real word?”
“No idea. I don’t really understand the whole “Three’s not a Crowd” thing they got going on.”
“Me neither, but whatever works for them…”
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Don leaned heavily against the railing and tried to get down the stairs in his half-asleep state without too many injuries. Somewhere in the back of his mind he realised the voices coming from the living room. He rubbed his eyes and tried to focus on the familiar voices.
“Calm down. It was a coincident, that’s all.”
“How can I calm down? He recognised me!”
“He doesn’t even know your name, there is no way he could find you, or tell anyone about it.” Martin stated calmly. “He doesn’t know you, and the chance of another chance encounter is pretty minimal.”
“What if…” Bobby’s voice cracked. “What if it comes out some other way?”
“It won’t, unless you tell them. And I think you should.”
“No.”
“I understand that you don’t want anyone at work know about it, and there I can cover your back, but you should tell David and Ian.”
“I can’t.”
“If you tell them, you don’t need to worry about it coming out, and I think they’ll understand.”
“No, they won’t. It didn’t even occur to me before that someone might recognise me, but now that I think about it... there’s only so much another name and a haircut can do.”
“All the more reason to tell them yourself. Few years from now no one will remember it.”
“But till then I have to make sure someone won’t recognise me.” Bobby’s voice disappeared for a minute. “It’s always there. Hanging over my head.”
“If it hasn’t come out yet, it probably never will.” Martin stated. “But you really should think about telling David and Ian. Everyone has their little secrets.”
Don heard footsteps and took few steps back, hiding behind the railing. Bobby followed Martin pass the stairs into the kitchen. Their voices became fainter, finally disappearing.
Don sneaked back upstairs and waited till he heard Bobby’s car leaving the driveway ten minutes later.
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“Just coffee.” Colby ordered and the perky waitress wiggled her way across the café to fill his order. “So, what’s going on?”
“I don’t know.” David tapped his fingers against his coffee cup. “Something happened and I need a second opinion.”
“I’m listening.”
“Last night… We were out in that new restaurant you talked about.”
“Don’t tell me you ordered fish, I warned you-”
“Nothing like that. When we were leaving some old creep came to talk to Bobby. Totally drunk.”
“That’s not all, is it?”
“No, he called him Darin.”
“The guy was called Darin?”
“No, he called Bobby Darin, and mumbled something about not seeing him for ages. We left and Bobby just said he had never seen the guy before.”
“You think he was lying?”
“I know he was lying. You should have seen his face when that guy showed up, he looked like was in front of a firing squad.”
“Why would he lie?”
“I don’t know, but I’m gonna find out. I checked his records last night.”
“You do know that’s not exactly legal…”
“Yeah, but remember what he said about his past? He said he came to L.A. about seven or eight months ago when he got the job working for Martin.”
“I know that.”
“According to records he moved here over a year ago. The change of address is documented, but that’s all.”
“What do you mean all?”
“Besides that, there’s absolutely nothing. He moved to his current address, but there’s nothing else. No employment, no records of his studies at CalSci till six moths ago.”
“What do you think it means?”
“I don’t know.” David took a bite from his sandwich. “But he’s hiding something.”
“Maybe he’s an escaped convict who seduced an FBI agent to keep tabs on the manhunt and when he’s done he’ll slaughter us all and built a shrine for his victims with our bleached bones.”
“Can you take this seriously for a minute?”
“Maybe… if I really try.”
“He’s not himself. Since we ran into that guy he’s been twitchy and jumpy. Like he’s afraid of something.”
“Why would he be afraid if he’s an axe murderer?”
“Can just you forget the axe murderer thing? What the hell do I do about it?”
“Dig deeper or let it go.” Colby shrugged. “Or you could ask Martin.”
“Yeah… I think you’re on to something. I heard him calling him this morning.”
“Did you hear anything else?”
“No, just that he wanted to talk. He sounded really panicky.”
“You think it’s because of that guy? Did he seem violent?”
“No, just drunk. This is about something else.” David emptied his coffee cup and vawed the waitress closer for a refill. “Whatever it is, I better dig it up one way or another. At least that Ian said. If I don’t come up with something, he’ll call in some favours, and I have a feeling it won’t be pretty.”
Chapter 2/3