Fic: Third Loop, part 3/3 (Numb3rs, Charlie/Colby)
Title: Third Loop, part 3/3
Author: lillyg
Characters/Pairings: Charlie/Colby, Don, Alan
Word Count: 2727 words
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: language, slash
Spoilers: The Janus List, Trust Metric
Summary: When it’s time to deal with the aftermath of the Chinese fiasco, it’s time for Colby to cope, and maybe to have a new beginning.
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I own anything, that including my fantasies about Colby and Charlie.
Betas: By the lovely
paranoid_woman
Author's notes: Feedback is really appreciated, as much as constructive reviews, no need to flame!
Two days later, Charlie and Colby had felt in a little routine, but Don hadn’t called yet and Colby was going ballistic. On the third day, Colby had finally given up and had told himself that it was a dead end. Charlie had tried to keep him calm, and forced him to stay with him in the garage. After a very long lunch, Alan had decided to fat Colby up so he had forced-feed him even if Colby didn’t agree with that. While they were trying to digest, Don finally came unannounced to Casa Eppes.
When he stepped in the garage, he discovered Colby fast asleep on Charlie’s lap. His brother was reading a new math article from “Journal on Applied Mathematics,” holding it with his left hand while he was stroking lazily Colby’s hair with the right one. Don was slightly taken aback by the sight of his brother with another man but after the surprise effect had passed, the pieces of the puzzle began to fit in his head. He also discovered that it didn’t bother him that much. He was so focused on the two young men that he didn’t even notice his father sneaking behind him.
“I hope you’re not here to start a new fight after seeing them,” Alan said to his son, making him jump a little.
“I kinda find them cute. But don’t repeat it to Chuck.” Alan rolled his eyes. “And I’m not here to argue,” Don said with a hint of bitterness in his voice, remembering the harsh words his father had told him few days ago. “It’s just that I didn’t even know they were an item. When did they get together?” His father was staring at him suspiciously while Don was looking at them with a fond smile.
“Three days ago,” his father answered briefly. Knowing that his oldest son wouldn’t trigger a new crisis, Alan let them some privacy, hoping that everyone would reconcile.
Don coughed lightly to avoid scaring his brother and his junior agent. Charlie looked at him with a challenging gaze, daring his brother to say something about him and Colby. Don held up his hands to show his little brother that everything was okay. Charlie stated, “You’re 24 hours late.”
“I know. We were stuck in a case yesterday evening. I didn’t even go home for two days. And the SUV is still at the mechanics so I can’t bring it back yet. We couldn’t change all the wheels by ourselves and we wanted to check the whole vehicle for other damage. Apart from the wheels, everything seems to be okay.”
“And you were supposed to call before coming,” Charlie snapped.
“Wow! Take it easy, Charles.” Don winced at the formal first name of his brother he hadn’t pronounced in years. “I’m not here for a fight. My cell went out and I could charge the battery. I didn’t notice before I was out of the building, and I was too tired to go back to the office. I’m sorry, okay?”
“O-kaay.”
Charlie relaxed and nudged Colby awake. The latter tried to stay in his comfortable position but jerked awake when he saw his boss right in front of them. He was afraid of Don’s reaction after finding him in a compromising position as he was sleeping on Charlie’s lap. He began to hyperventilate, fearing the consequences but Don noticed him and tried to calm him down.
“Hey! Hey! Relax buddy; it’s okay!” Don reassured him.
Colby didn’t look convinced but seemed to relax a little bit.
“What? You thought I was going to beat you to a pulp for hooking up with my brother?” Don asked.
“Kinda,” Colby answered sheepishly.
“Okay, I think we need to have a serious talk. But first I have something to say. To both of you. First of all, Colby…” Don paused. “Look, buddy, I’m sorry for what I said last time in the bullpen. It was mean and I wasn’t aware of that at that moment. I know it’s not an excuse, and I’m not looking for one anyway. That was really stupid, I was just tired and pissed off. I was thinking that you needed more rest and that just came out wrong. I don’t know what happened; I just snapped. You are NOT useless. On the contrary, you’re a very a key asset to the FBI.”
Colby was staring at Don like he was coming from Mars. “You really think that?” He asked, his voice showing worries.
“Yeah buddy. I swear you’re a very valuable agent.”
‘That’s it. Just an agent,’ Colby thought.
“And more than that, you’re a very valuable person. I have thought a lot about whole story for the last few weeks. Even before Charlie, Charles, sorry,” he corrected himself, “used his voodoo with his Trust Metric, I didn’t want to believe that you were a traitor. I watched your interrogation so many times that I know all the words by heart off. I was trying to find a sign that there was something else behind all this mess. I always thought that you were a good man, and with your military family history, I couldn’t believe you would be able to betray your country, or your family. And I really couldn’t believe that I’d been so wrong about you for two years, that you had fooled everyone.”
Colby looked away, ashamed.
“Don, you…” Charlie warned, but Colby stopped him from going further.
“Don’t! He’s right. Even if I didn’t betray my country, I betrayed my friends and my family. I lied to them. I’m the looser who spied on them for two years and sold what they were trying to protect.”
“Hey! Don’t call yourself a looser!” Charlie cried angrily.
“I agree with Charrr…les. You’re not a looser,” Don stated. Seeing the unconvinced look on Colby’s face, Don asked, “Did you sell any real secret or important information?” Colby shook his head. “Did you fake being our friend?”
“No!” Colby exclaimed with indignation.
“See?” Don pointed at him. Colby nodded. “I can’t promise you that everyone will be friendly tomorrow; it would be a lie. But they will learn to trust the new Colby. They will get to know you and eventually, they will come around.”
“As if David would forgive me,” Colby muttered bitterly.
“I’m sure both of you will go through this. And you will be best friends again. And if he doesn’t change his mind, I’m going to kick some sense into him anyway,” Don added, smiling. He noticed that Colby was blinking back tears. “Buddy, look, it will get better, I swear,” he said, sitting near his agent and patting him on the shoulder. “I took the liberty to call your mother. I had the idea that she didn’t take it well.”
“No kidding!” he snapped sarcastically.
“We talked for a while. I explained everything, answered every question. I let her know that you were doing this for your country, that you were not a traitor, and that you had no choice. She still need time to process it, but I’m sure she’s going to call you soon. I gave her Dad’s telephone number.”
“Really?” Colby asked, hopeful.
“Really. I also talked to your neighbors. Some agents fed the sharks with exaggerated information to make you look worse. Speaking of the devils, they are suspended until further notice. When I saw your flat, I immediately called them in. I made them help us to list and clean everything. They are also going to replace what they broke, or give you money if it’s not possible. After the cleaning, I kicked their sorry ass in the AD office. I’m not even sure they will be reinstated after what they did. I think the ADA was angrier than me. And I was very, very, very angry. Trust me.”
“You really did that?” Colby asked in awe. “But they did that because they thought I was a traitor.”
“Stop making excuses for them. They don’t deserve it. What they did is just inexcusable. And quit saying you are a traitor. You didn’t betray anyone. You were ordered to do what you did. You did that to catch spies. If you would have had a choice, would you have done it?”
“No, I hated lying to you. To everyone. That was awful. Always avoiding being close to someone in order to prevent my cover to be blown, never be able to get more than two drinks to stay alert. Knowing that when everything ended, I would be either alone, or dead.”
“My point exactly! It wasn’t a choice. So, about your neighbors. The lady on the third floor told me that his son was the one who painted on your door with one of his friend. After I told her that if his son wanted to paint so much, he should rather apply for a drawing school, she said she was going to see with your landlord directly. You will be getting your deposit back by the latter. He will drop by the office soon to bring it back. Okay?”
Colby nodded, unable to add a word. He finally managed a weak “Thank you”.
“Don’t thank me. It’s mostly my fault.”
“But you didn’t do anything!”
“Yeah, ‘anything’ is the keyword. That’s the problem. I was so focused on being angry at you that I didn’t notice what they did, how people treated you. What a Chief I am!” Don exclaimed.
“But…”
“No ‘buts’!” Don cut him off. “I should have, at least, taken a look at your apartment before you came back. Maybe you wouldn’t have found you place in that state. It looks like a bomb exploded inside.”
“uh-huh! Your brother is still trying to determine if it was a hurricane, an earthquake, or a battlefield,” Colby said with a fond smile. He suddenly remembered that he was talking to his boss and his boyfriend’s brother. He immediately panicked. “I… I…” He flinched when Don put a hand on his shoulder.
“I told you to relax, buddy. If I had something against you being together I would have say it earlier.”
“I’m sorry, Don.”
“For what? Making my brother happy? Feeling better than you had in years? Feeling loved? Look Colb, you don’t need to spend your all life miserable. You need to be happy now? You need to close the book on this story. You absolutely don’t need to expiate your ‘sin’ by being alone, sad and depressed.” Don air-quoted the word ‘sin’ to make his point. “You can’t be a superhero all the time. You’re going to break down if you keep things bottled up. And it wasn’t a pun about the number of bottles we found in your apartment. Every superhero needs a friend, look at Superman, he has Lois Lane, and Batman has Robin.”
Charlie snorted, “When did you become Yoda, Voice of Wisdom?”
“I think I have seen Bradford too much recently. He’s rubbing off on me!” Both Charlie and Colby nodded their agreement with a grin. “Now, I can tell that you’re going to see Bradford a lot in the next few weeks.” Colby nodded his approval. “You need to sort everything out before it eats you up. I guess that your jail time was hell, and you need someone to talk. I’m here if you want, but if you feel uncomfortable to talk to me, I understand. And I’m not here just as a boss. I’m here for you as a friend, too. Well, if you want to.” Don was becoming more and more nervous, and was fidgeting on the couch.
“Okay.”
“And I couldn’t stand to see you drown yourself in a swimming-pool, or any watery surface, Aquaman,” he added with a smirk.
“I don’t always…” He stopped when he saw Don raising his eyebrows. “Okay, maybe…” he admitted. “but at least Aquaman is hot and awesome. You could have called me worse!”
“Like?”
“I don’t know… The Little Mermaid?” Everyone chuckled at that.
“Well, if you want me to call you Ariel in the middle of the bullpen, I can manage!”
“No!” Colby cried with a terrified look spread on his face.
“Look. I know I haven’t had the best behaviors since the Chinese story. It took me too much time to process it and I should have realized that you needed someone, no matter what. I have been selfish and childish, particularly this week. I don’t even recognize myself. We are FBI agents and I act like I was in 3rd grade, like I was four instead of a man in his forties. I’m your boss, for Christ sake!”
That comment made Colby smile. He turned to Charlie. “I also have to apologize to you, Charles.”
“Charlie,” his brother corrected.
Don’s eyes became wet. “So I’m not in the doghouse anymore, huh?”
“Well, no. I also owe you some apologies. I have been carried away somehow. I didn’t control myself anymore. My brain just snapped, I think. I have been really harsh to you. It wasn’t your entire fault.” Charlie looked away, somehow ashamed by some of the malicious things he’d told his brother.
“But I’ve been a prick. Thanks for kicking some sense into me,” Don said. Charlie grinned at his brother. “I saw the flat, so I know why you reacted like that. David’s beginning to be careful with me; after he said something this morning, I was yelling in the middle of the bullpen when we were back. I almost fired him when he made a witty comeback, and half of the office.” Charlie and Colby looked at each other in total awe. “Yeah,” Don confirmed with a blush. “But I thought wisely that it would be easier to handle criminals if Megan and I weren’t alone to catch them.” The three men burst into laughter.
“But you’re really okay with Colby and I being together?”
“You’re a grown man, Charlie. You don’t need me to tell you what you have to do. And Colby is a good man. He’s strong; he’s brave, and trustworthy.” He looked at Colby who was staring at him in disbelief. “Close your mouth, bud, you’re going to catch flies. And yeah, I said trustworthy.” He turned to face his brother. “He’s also kind, and according to the laaaaadies in the building, he’s hot!” emphasizing ‘hot’ to make Colby blush furiously. He quickly added for his brother sake, “Not that I’m interested, bro!”
Both Charlie and Colby sighed in relief.
“So we are all good now?” Don asked hopeful, still afraid that Charlie might say no. Charlie and Colby nodded.
“We are not all good,” Alan said when he stepped in the garage. Don felt his heart break when he heard his father’s words. Seeing that his son was blinking back tears, Alan hurried to correct himself. “I’m sorry, Donnie, it came out wrong. I didn’t mean it that way. I just wanted to say that I was sorry for what I told you about your mother. That was low. Even if I was pissed at you and disappointed, I shouldn’t have thrown at you what you mother could have thought if she was still alive. You miss her as much as Charlie or I do. It was unfair. I hope you accept my apologies too, Son.” Don nodded, incapable to pronounce a word. Alan pulled him into a fierce hug. “Okay, boys! Let’s go get dinner then watch the hockey match! You stay with us Donnie? I made brisket.”
Don’s eyes lit up. “Of course Dad!”
“All right! Let’s go!” Alan hurried them out of the garage.
"Charlie?"
"Yeah, Don?"
"Could you really make me being fired?"
"No, but I like make you sweating!" Charlie stated, smirking.
“Oh, and Granger, get my brother pregnant and you will have to marry him!” Don added before running towards the kitchen.
“Don!” both Charlie and Colby yelled in horror.
After a nice reconciliation dinner, Alan was loading the plates in the dishwasher while the boys were messing around. Colby had put the TV on a soap opera for a prank and had hidden the remote. Charlie and Don were tickling him merciless.
Don yelled playfully, “Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad! Colby doesn’t want to give back the remooooote!”
Alan entered the room. “Behave sons, now your old man wants to watch the game.” He winked at Colby, who handed him the remote. Colby cuddled against Charlie, feeling warmer and happier he hadn’t felt in years. A new life was finally welcomed.
Fin