FIC: "Holding on to a lie," Part 4/? (Charlie/Colby, Larry, Alan, Amita, PG-13)
Title: "Theories about the whys"
Series: Holding on to a lie, Part 4/?
Characters: Charlie/Colby, Larry, Alan, Amita, OMC.
Rating: PG-13.
Spoilers: None.
Warnings: None.
Summary: How many people are wondering why Amita has returned?
Author's note: This is set after "The Connections Series" and "Not thinking about you."
Feedback: I love feedback. Every comment is a coffee bean that accelerates me properly. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Numb3rs or anything related to it. But I do own the original ideas used and my OCs.
Beta: The always amazing irena_adler.
Previous chapter: Part 3 - "A friend in need" (Colby/Charlie, David, PG-13)
Holding on to a lie
Part 4: “Theories about the whys”
Once Colby had gone to talk to David, Charlie returned to his vacuuming task, trying to calm down. He was still nervous about the fact that Amita was around him again. The way she had talked to him, the way she had said, “I’m not trying, Charlie, I’m already back on track,” was definitely disturbing.
Why was she so accelerated? And where did all that confidence come from, all of a sudden? She had been kidnapped and hurt by Patrick Garner, she’d been abandoned by Charlie, and now she was acting like nothing had happened.
Charlie had to admit that he was expecting her to be a little more affected by their separation. Now, her normal attitude towards him made him believe that he hadn’t been that important to her. Maybe the years they had spent together had meant nothing. And actually, that wouldn’t be a surprise, considering that they had shared few really intimate moments, and that their spark had been starting to vanish, before Colby.
It was also weird for Charlie to know that, even inside his head, Amita wasn’t important to him either. He would always love her as a friend and as someone he had spent a nice time of his life with, but it had been relatively easy to stop romantically thinking about her and focus on Colby.
Colby. The feeling of knowing that he was getting jealous of Amita was really sad. She didn’t have any opportunity with Charlie, but still, Colby had the right to be afraid. He and his lover were just starting a new relationship that didn’t even have a name yet. Insecurity and awareness of how their new feelings were seemed to be taking over Colby’s head. Charlie would have to fix that by showing him how much he cared about him, so he wouldn’t feel like he was backing out.
Vacuuming was finally done after a while, and that time helped Charlie to clear his head. When he stepped into his father’s room, he asked, “Dad, how are you feeling?”
Alan smiled, taking his eyes off of his book. “Better.”
“Why are you so happy?” It was good but also unexpected that Alan was in such a good mood, especially since confessing that he had kept the secret about Amita being at the house earlier.
“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just that Colby asked me the same thing a while ago. It’s nice to know that people care about an old man like me.”
“Well, you’re very likable, Dad,” Charlie muttered, and he sat on the bed beside him. Then he added seriously, “You know, it’s ok that Amita’s been here. It was going to happen, eventually.”
“Really? It isn’t awkward to you?” It seemed that Alan didn’t believe him, that he thought that Charlie had to feel weird because of Amita’s talk with his father.
“Nah, she’s a friend of the family and she’ll probably work at CalSci again, so I’m going to see her, anyways. Don’t’ worry, I’ll be fine.”
“You’ve got Colby, now.” Alan’s smile grew wider.
Charlie smiled too, nodding slowly. “Yeah. I’ve got Colby.”
“How’s that going, by the way?”
“Good… I mean, it’s all pretty new, but it’s good.” With those few words, Charlie tried to let his father know that he was ok.
“I’m glad.”
In a gesture that meant “thank you,” Charlie put a hand on Alan’s shoulder and squeezed it gently. Then he got up and left the room. There might be something else he could do besides vacuuming; maybe he could try to find someone who could help fix the house.
He was about to call Ray-Ray and ask him if he had some idea about that, when he received a call. He smiled when he noticed who that person was. “Colby.”
“Hey…”
“What’s going on?” Charlie had to ask, because Colby sounded really worried.
“I went to see David. I’m at his apartment.”
“Did he say anything about Amita?”
“He was about to do it, but he passed out. He’s been drinking a lot of vodka. I’ve got like twelve bottles here.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Charlie snapped. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Colby immediately assured him that he was telling him the truth. “I know it’s shocking. I couldn’t believe it myself. But he’s here, on the bed, beside me. I’m going to stay here for a while, see how he is when he wakes up.”
“Yeah, I think that’s the best thing to do. God… Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know, but I want to find that out. So far, the only thing I know is that he seems to be like this because of Amita.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.” It was impossible that Amita had done something to David. They weren’t even that close, so he shouldn’t have been affected by anything she could have said.
“That’s what I thought,” Colby responded. “Ok, I’ll let you know if something comes up. Bye, Charlie.”
“Bye. Take care.”
Charlie hung up and stared at his cell phone. He didn’t understand what was going on. Amita was suddenly back, David was broken because of her. But there had to be an explanation, no matter what.
He decided to talk to Larry and see if there had been any news during the couple of hours he had been at home. However, it was impossible to call him because the physicist refused to get a cell phone, so Charlie would have to go back to CalSci; he had to give a class in the afternoon, anyways.
After asking his father if he would be ok until he got back, he grabbed his stuff and took a cab to the university. There, he found that his office’s door had been locked by putting something heavy against it on the other side.
“Who’s there?” he demanded to know while he tried to push the door open. “This is my office, I have the right to get in!”
No one responded to him.
“I’m going to call Security and tell them to open it up for me!” he threatened the person that was inside.
And then, a well-known voice came from the office. “Charles?”
Charlie frowned. “Larry?”
“Is there someone with you, outside?”
“Huh?” The mathematician looked around him. There were some students walking around, but no one seemed to want to enter the office with him. “No, I’m alone,” he responded, not knowing why his friend had made him such question.
“Ok… Hold on a second.”
There were loud noises, like Larry was messily dragging something inside. But soon, the office was open. His face appeared through the little space between the door and its frame, and he whispered, “Hurry up, Charles.”
It looked like he was afraid of something. Curious and worried, Charlie stepped into the room and found his desk in a different place. When the door closed behind him, he looked at the physicist and said, “You used my desk to lock the door?”
Larry just landed his palms on each side of his face and nodded.
“Why?”
“I was trying to get at least ten feet away from the students masses. Your office seemed to be the best place to stay, since I don’t really live anywhere.”
Charlie nodded, trying to understand why Larry was acting so weird. “Ok… but for what reasons were they after you?”
“Amita.”
“Amita,” Charlie repeated. Her name was popping out everywhere, affecting everyone’s lives. “What does she have to do with you using my office as some kind of protective shield?”
Slowly, Larry walked towards the desk and sat on it. He joined his hands and explained himself. “As you know, she had a meeting here today.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, she’s still trying to convince the board that she’s capable of working as well as she did before… by presenting psychological tests that prove her mental stability.”
“And?”
“And… there was a significant amount of rumors circulating among the students.”
That’s when Charlie started to understand. “So as I wasn’t here, they turned to you to get to know what was exactly happening.”
“Yes. But unfortunately, I’m not good at communicating myself with fifty students at the same time, asking me over and over why she was back,” Larry said, and he opened his arms in a dramatic gesture. “They basically dragged me out of the classroom when the class was over, harassed me with questions and cornered me near your office. There was only one chance for me to get a little peace of mind and try to think about a good answer, and it was getting in here and locking myself up.”
To some extent, Charlie wanted to laugh at Larry’s always awkward social behavior, but he didn’t. “And where are those ‘crazy’ students now?”
“I don’t know. I supposed they’re trying to absorb some true data from the gossip that’s been going around the hallways near the board’s office.”
Charlie immediately went towards the door. Maybe he could get some explanations from hearing the real gossip, too.
“Charles, what are you doing?”
“I want to see if any of them knows something about Amita’s behavior.”
“But… It’s a little bit dangerous, believe me.”
“I can handle it, don’t worry,” Charlie assured his friend, smiling. He opened the door and turned around. “Um, Larry… You can get out if you want. There’s no one out here anymore, like I told you.”
Larry lifted a hand and shook his head. “I would prefer to stay here a little longer, if you don’t mind. Just until I feel the territory is clear and harmless again.”
“Fine. I guess I’ll be back soon.” The mathematician left the room and heard how Larry put his desk against the door again. Shaking his head, he walked to the board’s office, and at the door he found the fifty students that had ‘harassed’ Larry with their questions.
They all turned to him when they saw him, and they started bombing him with doubts about why Amita was going to give classes again so soon, and if she was going to ask them to write a paper to make up the classes she’d missed. All the students knew that she had been kidnapped and that she had left the Math Department so she could go to India; the news had spread quickly over the university after she’d gone missing a few months ago.
Now, Charlie could feel what Larry had described as ‘being cornered near an office.’ People were making a circle around him, everybody was talking at the same time, and he was starting to need some air. He just wanted to see what was going on inside the room, but it seemed that it was going to be impossible for him to do it.
Yet, he could get near the door and see through its little window. Inside the office, Amita was talking and being supported by a man dressed in black who seemed to be her therapist. It was very probable that Don had been the one to assign her one.
Then, Charlie saw her sign a few papers and shake her superiors’ hand. Finally, she went towards the door and opened it.
All the students stopped paying attention to Charlie and focused on her. She acted like they weren’t there, and when she saw her ex-boyfriend, she immediately approached him.
“Charlie. They gave me back my job, thanks to Bob’s help,” Amita explained, pointing at her therapist. “I’m so grateful that Don called me and said he was sending him here to talk on my behalf.”
So it had been Don the one to provide Bob’s services to her. She looked so happy that Charlie started to think that maybe it would be actually good for her to concentrate on her work. “Wow, I’m happy to hear that you got what you wanted,” he muttered, being aware that everybody was in silence, listening to them.
“Well, it’s not exactly like that. I still have a lot of work to do. I don’t have all I want yet.”
That phrase hanged in the air while she made her way through the students, followed by Bob. Everybody stared at her, still in silence. Not even Charlie, who was left nervous and preoccupied, dared to ask her about the meaning of her last words.