FIC: "Holding on to a lie," Part 14/? (Charlie/Colby, Amita, Larry, Alan, PG-13)
Title: "Not ok"
Series: Holding on to a lie, Part 14/?
Characters: Charlie/Colby, Amita, Larry, Alan.
Rating: PG-13.
Spoilers: None.
Warnings: None.
Summary: Amita makes a desperate and unexpected decision.
Feedback: I love feedback. Every comment is a cup of coffee that keeps me posting. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Numb3rs or anything related to it. But I do own the original aspects and any OCs.
Beta: The wonderful fredbassett, who has so kindly offered me her help. *g*
Previous chapter: Part 13/? - "Background details" (Colby/Charlie, Megan, Don, Amita/OMC, PG-13)
Holding on to a lie
Part 14: “Not ok”
Amita regretted the fact that she had got involved with Bob. What the hell had she been thinking about? As she heard the sounds of the city, Amita ran her hands over her hair, flattening it, caressing it as she thought about all the madness she was capable of. That was what really scared her. She was aware of her actions, and yet, it always seemed that she couldn’t stop.
But maybe she could do it now that she had reached rock bottom and held herself together again afterwards. She had followed her plans for making Charlie miserable through Alan being sick, and finally she had had a breakdown after watching her ex-boyfriend having sex with his lover. She had then got a knife and decided to let the game start.
However, now that she was in the cab, surprisingly it seemed that all she needed was to sleep for a while and put her thoughts in order. I can’t do it, I just can’t. I have to stop.
She wasn’t able to dream about hurting Charlie or anything like that right now. She was a good person, a strong woman who could handle anything and everything. Maybe now that she didn’t have Charlie in her life, she could start something new - travelling, taking up a new career related to her field, even trying to meet another man…
So she knew that she had to make things right. There was no point in keeping trying to make Charlie and Colby break up because it was stupid and not worthy. Thank God no one knew that she had replaced Alan’s medication.
Amita had the chance to make a change. Smiling sadly, she took out of her bag the knife she had picked up from her the kitchen of her house before leaving. That had been the previous plan - a simple, silly attack. Now it seemed to be absolutely pointless, not to mention horrible. She put the knife into her bag again; that was not going to happen.
“Charlie, for the love of God, I’m going to be just fine,” Alan said as he tried to get up from the bed, but Charlie held him down.
“No, Dad. You fainted, your cold is not gone, you need to rest. You made dinner for Colby and me last night, you got up when you weren’t feeling ok,” Charlie stated. “I’m not taking any risks anymore. Whether it’s Don or me, we’re taking care of you and not letting you get up from this bed, do you understand me?”
The news didn’t exactly thrilled Alan, because he locked his sleepy eyes with Charlie’s and muttered, “Do you realize that this is almost like taking me hostage?”
Charlie couldn’t help smiling. “Yeah, kind of. Except that it’s for your own good.”
“Well, I know that, but I’m not that old.”
“Who said I was keeping you here because I think you’re old?” the mathematician snapped.
“Oh, nice way to let me know you think I’m old, Charlie,” his father replied immediately.
There was nothing Charlie could do but take a deep breath and try to take things easy. Since he it had been his turn to take care of Alan that morning, his father had been grumpy and making weird assumptions during the time he wasn’t actually sleeping.
“Ah, I’m sorry, son,” Alan said, as he rubbed his face. He let his head fall onto the pillow and took a breath as he almost fell asleep again. “I have no idea where that came from or why I said all the other things I said today. I’m… I’m dizzy and so incredibly tired... Maybe I should get more of those cold pills, maybe I hadn’t taken them as much as I needed…”
“Dad, forget it. Larry’s doing some tests on them because we get the feeling that they could be bad for you.”
“What? No, Amita was so nice to buy them for me. She’s such a sweetheart, I’m sure those are fine.”
Ok, so you’re right. But no matter how kind Amita is, someone could have put something dangerous in that little bottle. So no, you’re not getting up. “Dad…” Before Charlie could answer, the door bell rang. “I’m going to get that, you stay here.”
“Ok…”
“Don’t try to escape, I have eyes in the back of my head…”
“Oh, I remember telling you that when you were a kid. Sometimes you didn’t want to have dinner because you wanted to keep studying your numbers,” Alan said as he smiled with his eyes closed. “It was more than ok that you were so interested in them, but you needed to eat something, you know.”
Charlie laughed happily. “Well, the roles always reverse, eventually.” When the bell rang again and his father opened his eyes a little bit, he signaled to Alan, who just nodded.
“Hi,” Colby said when Charlie opened the door.
“Hey, Colby.” The mathematician noticed the agent’s jaw and snapped, “What happened to you? Who did that?”
“David. He hit me after freaking out when he saw Amita. I don’t know what the hell’s wrong with him, but it’s very disturbing, I can tell you that. When I see him again, I’m getting him to tell me what’s going on.” Once inside the house, Charlie’s lover turned to him. “So, how’s your Dad?”
“Does it hurt?” Charlie insisted.
“A little bit, but I’m ok. This is nothing compared to other times I’ve been hit. What actually bothers me is David’s attitude,” Colby muttered, and after taking a breath, he repeated, “How’s your Dad?”
“Grumpy, but fine. He even wants to start taking those cold pills again, but I told him that’s not going to happen.” Even if Charlie was still worried about Colby’s injury, he also couldn’t stop looking at Colby with fascination. He still remembered how his lover had looked while he was giving him pleasure last night in the garage.
So indecisive and careful, yet so sexy and irresistible. What exactly did Colby like? Maybe something related to dirty talk, which was exactly what had made him let go the last time…
However, Charlie soon noticed that Colby wasn’t thinking about the same thing. In fact, the green-eyed agent was taking too many deep breaths and he had a concerned look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” Charlie wanted to know.
Colby looked around and came closer to him to apparently share some secret news. “I checked on Bob Berenson. He’s got a pretty dirty background, you know.”
“Really? But Megan recommended him. She should have known.”
“She says he’s good, but after my research she’s not so sure about him being the best person to help Amita,” Colby responded, waving his hands. “I don’t know. She always sees these things, I don’t get it. After her DOJ job, sometimes she doesn’t seem to be the same…”
“And what do you think?”
“I think Berenson’s got to have done at least one of the things that a group of women has accused him off - basically raping them as he messed with their heads.”
“But… what you’re telling me is extremely serious. And the guy managed to get away with it?”
Colby nodded slowly, walking around the living room. “Apparently, a great reputation can save you from anything.”
“I…” For the second time, the door bell rang and Charlie had to go and open the door. “Hold on a minute… I’m going to take this, then I’ll come back and we’ll talk about that man. I’m seriously worried about Amita…”
It was Larry, at the door, rubbing his hands in circles, like he was scared of something. “Charles, I need to talk to you…”
He stopped at the sound of a car getting closer and parking in front of the house. It was a cab, and when Amita got out, Charlie could see Larry swallow hard. The pupils of his eyes narrowed, as a shock of adrenaline and fear reached his brain.
Suddenly, Colby’s words came to Charlie’s mind. David freaked out and hit him when he saw Amita, because of whatever she did to him. Larry obviously won’t do anything like that, but still… why’s everyone acting like this when she’s around? What’s going on?
“Oh, hi,” Charlie said when he saw her.
“Hi,” she responded, putting a hand on Larry’s shoulder. “Larry.”
The physicist jumped and moved away from her, looking afraid. “Hi, Amita.”
“Hello, Colby,” she greeted Charlie’s lover respectfully, and he nodded, even if he was obviously uncomfortable with the situation after the incident with David at CalSci.
“Charlie, I just wanted to see how your Dad’s doing. Can I see him?”
“Oh, um… yeah, sure.” Even if Charlie was uncomfortable because of everything people said about Amita, he thought that it would be good for his father to see that people cared about him. “In fact, why don’t you all come upstairs, so my Dad knows that people are visiting him?” Charlie muttered, inviting everyone to see his father. As he walked towards the stairs, he added, “Feel free to mention to him that you think he’s not old. That could help me a lot today.”
As everybody went upstairs, Charlie thought that Amita’s presence at the house was certainly weird, and that she shouldn’t have come; but he also got the feeling that Colby was making huge efforts not to get into a fight with her there because of Alan’s health.
He could see him and Amita share a cold look, meaning things were definitely not ok between them. In fact, Charlie wondered if something had already happened between them, maybe a discussion or something because of David.
They didn’t talk to each other, and neither did Larry. He followed Colby and never stopped acting weird. Charlie thought that it was one of those moments in which the physicist was working on complicated theories inside his head.
Upstairs, Alan received his visitors with a smile and his now usual sleepy face. While Colby said that he hoped he would get better and tried to find an excuse for his broken jaw, Amita said sweet things to him. But while they talked, Charlie couldn’t take his eyes off Larry. He was worse than before - now he kept walking in circles around Alan’s bedroom.
“Do you know if the pills have some dangerous component yet?” Amita said quickly
“Larry?” Charlie asked his friend, assuming he’d have the answer and that was the reason which had brought him to the Eppes residence. Maybe that would unblock his mind.
Without stopping his walk, Larry muttered, “Not exactly.”
“Are you ok?” Amita asked the physicist. She had probably noticed the same behavior, which was odd even for Larry.
Within a second, the physicist turned to Charlie and asked firmly, “Charles, it is a high priority for me to talk to you at the moment. Could you please spare me a minute of your precious time?”
As his friend sounded absolutely terrified, Charlie nodded and took him outside the room. “Whatever it is, Larry, you know you can talk to me. Do you have a theory that doesn’t want to leave your head?”
Larry mumbled something Charlie couldn’t understand. “Mmm? Could you say that again?” When the physicist gave him the same strange respond, he clarified his question. “What? Larry, speak up, I can’t hear what you’re saying…”
“Amita.”
“Amita what?” It was all about Amita, it was always Amita. Why was that? God, don’t tell me Berenson has done something to her.
“According to my conclusions, she’s the most likely person to have changed the pills.”
“I don’t get…”
“Charles,” Larry said, and his voice and his body started trembling even more. He joined his hands as if he was praying and swallowed. “I made the tests… Those pills weren’t cold medication.”
Now Charlie stopped thinking about anything else. “What were they, Larry? What has my father been taking?” he asked, holding his breath.
The physicist seemed to be about to faint when he whispered, “Sleeping pills.”
There is no way that is true… Amita couldn’t… No… Larry nodded silently, and his expression certainly wasn’t lying. Reality shocked Charlie. He felt a horrible pain in his stomach and shivers running down his spine. So that’s why she’s being so gentle.
“Oh, God…” In a second, he took out his cell phone and dialed his brother’s number.
“Hey, Charlie!” On the other end of the line, Don seemed to be surprised by Charlie’s dark, weird tone. “What’s up? Did Larry get the results?”
“As a matter of fact, he did. Dad was taking sleeping pills.”
“What? How the hell did those get to the bottle Amita bought him?”
Charlie turned around so he could see his ex-girlfriend inside the room, but when he did it, he discovered Amita had left it. In fact, she was one a few steps away from him, with her eyes teary and her face blushed, because she seemed to have listened to Charlie telling his brother about the famous pills. She covered her face with her hands as Larry stared at her in shock.
But Charlie’s conversation with Don wasn’t over yet. “I have no idea how that happened. But I’m going to find out right now.” This was because of Amita, the person he had refused to mistrust; it was his responsibility to fix everything. Don’t mess with my Dad. Not with him. “I just wanted you to know that I’m taking care of it.”
“Charlie! Charlie, wait a second, what are you going to d-!”
While Don kept yelling at him, Charlie just closed his phone. Never taking his eyes off Amita, he went towards her. “Did you replace my father’s cold meditation with sleeping pills?” he yelled at her, not being able to control himself. “What were you thinking?! Why did you do it?! Why?!” He suddenly remembered Colby’s words. “Is Bob who’s messing with your mind? Is he?”
By the time he had finished saying that, Colby was getting out of the room. “Charlie, what’s going on?” he asked, as Amita reached for the stairs, like she was trying to escape from the situation she had created herself.
“Don’t you run away from me now!” Charlie yelled again, and he pointed at her; she stopped in her tracks, pulled her bag closer to her body. Feeling about to explode, he explained, “She… she gave my father sleeping pills. No wonder he’s feeling so tired and needs to rest so much! No wonder he’s lost his memory sometimes! Those are really dangerous if you don’t have a genuine condition!”
“What? You…” his lover muttered as he took a step forward.
“I can’t believe… I don’t get it!” Charlie continued, getting closer to Amita, yelling at her as she turned her back to him, still with one hand on her face as she started to cry. “Amita, answer to me! What the hell is wrong with you? Are you ok or are you crazy?”
Slowly, she uncovered her face and slid one hand inside her bag. Then she cried loudly, almost screaming, and she turned to Charlie, Colby and Larry. She had tears falling down her cheeks, her make-up was a disaster and she seemed absolutely broken. “No, Charlie. I’m not ok.”
“Then wh-?”
Charlie couldn’t finish his question. He froze when Amita pointed a knife at him.
He stared at the weapon, only centimeters away from him. He couldn’t believe his eyes, and what was even more dangerous, Amita was still crying, her hands shaking as she repeated slowly, “I’m not ok.”
Maybe Charlie wasn’t an expert on dealing with people who had been in stressful situations, but his work at the FBI had taught him something - when people acted this way, they were capable of doing pretty much anything.
Series: Holding on to a lie, Part 14/?
Characters: Charlie/Colby, Amita, Larry, Alan.
Rating: PG-13.
Spoilers: None.
Warnings: None.
Summary: Amita makes a desperate and unexpected decision.
Feedback: I love feedback. Every comment is a cup of coffee that keeps me posting. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Numb3rs or anything related to it. But I do own the original aspects and any OCs.
Beta: The wonderful fredbassett, who has so kindly offered me her help. *g*
Previous chapter: Part 13/? - "Background details" (Colby/Charlie, Megan, Don, Amita/OMC, PG-13)
Holding on to a lie
Part 14: “Not ok”
Amita regretted the fact that she had got involved with Bob. What the hell had she been thinking about? As she heard the sounds of the city, Amita ran her hands over her hair, flattening it, caressing it as she thought about all the madness she was capable of. That was what really scared her. She was aware of her actions, and yet, it always seemed that she couldn’t stop.
But maybe she could do it now that she had reached rock bottom and held herself together again afterwards. She had followed her plans for making Charlie miserable through Alan being sick, and finally she had had a breakdown after watching her ex-boyfriend having sex with his lover. She had then got a knife and decided to let the game start.
However, now that she was in the cab, surprisingly it seemed that all she needed was to sleep for a while and put her thoughts in order. I can’t do it, I just can’t. I have to stop.
She wasn’t able to dream about hurting Charlie or anything like that right now. She was a good person, a strong woman who could handle anything and everything. Maybe now that she didn’t have Charlie in her life, she could start something new - travelling, taking up a new career related to her field, even trying to meet another man…
So she knew that she had to make things right. There was no point in keeping trying to make Charlie and Colby break up because it was stupid and not worthy. Thank God no one knew that she had replaced Alan’s medication.
Amita had the chance to make a change. Smiling sadly, she took out of her bag the knife she had picked up from her the kitchen of her house before leaving. That had been the previous plan - a simple, silly attack. Now it seemed to be absolutely pointless, not to mention horrible. She put the knife into her bag again; that was not going to happen.
“Charlie, for the love of God, I’m going to be just fine,” Alan said as he tried to get up from the bed, but Charlie held him down.
“No, Dad. You fainted, your cold is not gone, you need to rest. You made dinner for Colby and me last night, you got up when you weren’t feeling ok,” Charlie stated. “I’m not taking any risks anymore. Whether it’s Don or me, we’re taking care of you and not letting you get up from this bed, do you understand me?”
The news didn’t exactly thrilled Alan, because he locked his sleepy eyes with Charlie’s and muttered, “Do you realize that this is almost like taking me hostage?”
Charlie couldn’t help smiling. “Yeah, kind of. Except that it’s for your own good.”
“Well, I know that, but I’m not that old.”
“Who said I was keeping you here because I think you’re old?” the mathematician snapped.
“Oh, nice way to let me know you think I’m old, Charlie,” his father replied immediately.
There was nothing Charlie could do but take a deep breath and try to take things easy. Since he it had been his turn to take care of Alan that morning, his father had been grumpy and making weird assumptions during the time he wasn’t actually sleeping.
“Ah, I’m sorry, son,” Alan said, as he rubbed his face. He let his head fall onto the pillow and took a breath as he almost fell asleep again. “I have no idea where that came from or why I said all the other things I said today. I’m… I’m dizzy and so incredibly tired... Maybe I should get more of those cold pills, maybe I hadn’t taken them as much as I needed…”
“Dad, forget it. Larry’s doing some tests on them because we get the feeling that they could be bad for you.”
“What? No, Amita was so nice to buy them for me. She’s such a sweetheart, I’m sure those are fine.”
Ok, so you’re right. But no matter how kind Amita is, someone could have put something dangerous in that little bottle. So no, you’re not getting up. “Dad…” Before Charlie could answer, the door bell rang. “I’m going to get that, you stay here.”
“Ok…”
“Don’t try to escape, I have eyes in the back of my head…”
“Oh, I remember telling you that when you were a kid. Sometimes you didn’t want to have dinner because you wanted to keep studying your numbers,” Alan said as he smiled with his eyes closed. “It was more than ok that you were so interested in them, but you needed to eat something, you know.”
Charlie laughed happily. “Well, the roles always reverse, eventually.” When the bell rang again and his father opened his eyes a little bit, he signaled to Alan, who just nodded.
“Hi,” Colby said when Charlie opened the door.
“Hey, Colby.” The mathematician noticed the agent’s jaw and snapped, “What happened to you? Who did that?”
“David. He hit me after freaking out when he saw Amita. I don’t know what the hell’s wrong with him, but it’s very disturbing, I can tell you that. When I see him again, I’m getting him to tell me what’s going on.” Once inside the house, Charlie’s lover turned to him. “So, how’s your Dad?”
“Does it hurt?” Charlie insisted.
“A little bit, but I’m ok. This is nothing compared to other times I’ve been hit. What actually bothers me is David’s attitude,” Colby muttered, and after taking a breath, he repeated, “How’s your Dad?”
“Grumpy, but fine. He even wants to start taking those cold pills again, but I told him that’s not going to happen.” Even if Charlie was still worried about Colby’s injury, he also couldn’t stop looking at Colby with fascination. He still remembered how his lover had looked while he was giving him pleasure last night in the garage.
So indecisive and careful, yet so sexy and irresistible. What exactly did Colby like? Maybe something related to dirty talk, which was exactly what had made him let go the last time…
However, Charlie soon noticed that Colby wasn’t thinking about the same thing. In fact, the green-eyed agent was taking too many deep breaths and he had a concerned look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” Charlie wanted to know.
Colby looked around and came closer to him to apparently share some secret news. “I checked on Bob Berenson. He’s got a pretty dirty background, you know.”
“Really? But Megan recommended him. She should have known.”
“She says he’s good, but after my research she’s not so sure about him being the best person to help Amita,” Colby responded, waving his hands. “I don’t know. She always sees these things, I don’t get it. After her DOJ job, sometimes she doesn’t seem to be the same…”
“And what do you think?”
“I think Berenson’s got to have done at least one of the things that a group of women has accused him off - basically raping them as he messed with their heads.”
“But… what you’re telling me is extremely serious. And the guy managed to get away with it?”
Colby nodded slowly, walking around the living room. “Apparently, a great reputation can save you from anything.”
“I…” For the second time, the door bell rang and Charlie had to go and open the door. “Hold on a minute… I’m going to take this, then I’ll come back and we’ll talk about that man. I’m seriously worried about Amita…”
It was Larry, at the door, rubbing his hands in circles, like he was scared of something. “Charles, I need to talk to you…”
He stopped at the sound of a car getting closer and parking in front of the house. It was a cab, and when Amita got out, Charlie could see Larry swallow hard. The pupils of his eyes narrowed, as a shock of adrenaline and fear reached his brain.
Suddenly, Colby’s words came to Charlie’s mind. David freaked out and hit him when he saw Amita, because of whatever she did to him. Larry obviously won’t do anything like that, but still… why’s everyone acting like this when she’s around? What’s going on?
“Oh, hi,” Charlie said when he saw her.
“Hi,” she responded, putting a hand on Larry’s shoulder. “Larry.”
The physicist jumped and moved away from her, looking afraid. “Hi, Amita.”
“Hello, Colby,” she greeted Charlie’s lover respectfully, and he nodded, even if he was obviously uncomfortable with the situation after the incident with David at CalSci.
“Charlie, I just wanted to see how your Dad’s doing. Can I see him?”
“Oh, um… yeah, sure.” Even if Charlie was uncomfortable because of everything people said about Amita, he thought that it would be good for his father to see that people cared about him. “In fact, why don’t you all come upstairs, so my Dad knows that people are visiting him?” Charlie muttered, inviting everyone to see his father. As he walked towards the stairs, he added, “Feel free to mention to him that you think he’s not old. That could help me a lot today.”
As everybody went upstairs, Charlie thought that Amita’s presence at the house was certainly weird, and that she shouldn’t have come; but he also got the feeling that Colby was making huge efforts not to get into a fight with her there because of Alan’s health.
He could see him and Amita share a cold look, meaning things were definitely not ok between them. In fact, Charlie wondered if something had already happened between them, maybe a discussion or something because of David.
They didn’t talk to each other, and neither did Larry. He followed Colby and never stopped acting weird. Charlie thought that it was one of those moments in which the physicist was working on complicated theories inside his head.
Upstairs, Alan received his visitors with a smile and his now usual sleepy face. While Colby said that he hoped he would get better and tried to find an excuse for his broken jaw, Amita said sweet things to him. But while they talked, Charlie couldn’t take his eyes off Larry. He was worse than before - now he kept walking in circles around Alan’s bedroom.
“Do you know if the pills have some dangerous component yet?” Amita said quickly
“Larry?” Charlie asked his friend, assuming he’d have the answer and that was the reason which had brought him to the Eppes residence. Maybe that would unblock his mind.
Without stopping his walk, Larry muttered, “Not exactly.”
“Are you ok?” Amita asked the physicist. She had probably noticed the same behavior, which was odd even for Larry.
Within a second, the physicist turned to Charlie and asked firmly, “Charles, it is a high priority for me to talk to you at the moment. Could you please spare me a minute of your precious time?”
As his friend sounded absolutely terrified, Charlie nodded and took him outside the room. “Whatever it is, Larry, you know you can talk to me. Do you have a theory that doesn’t want to leave your head?”
Larry mumbled something Charlie couldn’t understand. “Mmm? Could you say that again?” When the physicist gave him the same strange respond, he clarified his question. “What? Larry, speak up, I can’t hear what you’re saying…”
“Amita.”
“Amita what?” It was all about Amita, it was always Amita. Why was that? God, don’t tell me Berenson has done something to her.
“According to my conclusions, she’s the most likely person to have changed the pills.”
“I don’t get…”
“Charles,” Larry said, and his voice and his body started trembling even more. He joined his hands as if he was praying and swallowed. “I made the tests… Those pills weren’t cold medication.”
Now Charlie stopped thinking about anything else. “What were they, Larry? What has my father been taking?” he asked, holding his breath.
The physicist seemed to be about to faint when he whispered, “Sleeping pills.”
There is no way that is true… Amita couldn’t… No… Larry nodded silently, and his expression certainly wasn’t lying. Reality shocked Charlie. He felt a horrible pain in his stomach and shivers running down his spine. So that’s why she’s being so gentle.
“Oh, God…” In a second, he took out his cell phone and dialed his brother’s number.
“Hey, Charlie!” On the other end of the line, Don seemed to be surprised by Charlie’s dark, weird tone. “What’s up? Did Larry get the results?”
“As a matter of fact, he did. Dad was taking sleeping pills.”
“What? How the hell did those get to the bottle Amita bought him?”
Charlie turned around so he could see his ex-girlfriend inside the room, but when he did it, he discovered Amita had left it. In fact, she was one a few steps away from him, with her eyes teary and her face blushed, because she seemed to have listened to Charlie telling his brother about the famous pills. She covered her face with her hands as Larry stared at her in shock.
But Charlie’s conversation with Don wasn’t over yet. “I have no idea how that happened. But I’m going to find out right now.” This was because of Amita, the person he had refused to mistrust; it was his responsibility to fix everything. Don’t mess with my Dad. Not with him. “I just wanted you to know that I’m taking care of it.”
“Charlie! Charlie, wait a second, what are you going to d-!”
While Don kept yelling at him, Charlie just closed his phone. Never taking his eyes off Amita, he went towards her. “Did you replace my father’s cold meditation with sleeping pills?” he yelled at her, not being able to control himself. “What were you thinking?! Why did you do it?! Why?!” He suddenly remembered Colby’s words. “Is Bob who’s messing with your mind? Is he?”
By the time he had finished saying that, Colby was getting out of the room. “Charlie, what’s going on?” he asked, as Amita reached for the stairs, like she was trying to escape from the situation she had created herself.
“Don’t you run away from me now!” Charlie yelled again, and he pointed at her; she stopped in her tracks, pulled her bag closer to her body. Feeling about to explode, he explained, “She… she gave my father sleeping pills. No wonder he’s feeling so tired and needs to rest so much! No wonder he’s lost his memory sometimes! Those are really dangerous if you don’t have a genuine condition!”
“What? You…” his lover muttered as he took a step forward.
“I can’t believe… I don’t get it!” Charlie continued, getting closer to Amita, yelling at her as she turned her back to him, still with one hand on her face as she started to cry. “Amita, answer to me! What the hell is wrong with you? Are you ok or are you crazy?”
Slowly, she uncovered her face and slid one hand inside her bag. Then she cried loudly, almost screaming, and she turned to Charlie, Colby and Larry. She had tears falling down her cheeks, her make-up was a disaster and she seemed absolutely broken. “No, Charlie. I’m not ok.”
“Then wh-?”
Charlie couldn’t finish his question. He froze when Amita pointed a knife at him.
He stared at the weapon, only centimeters away from him. He couldn’t believe his eyes, and what was even more dangerous, Amita was still crying, her hands shaking as she repeated slowly, “I’m not ok.”
Maybe Charlie wasn’t an expert on dealing with people who had been in stressful situations, but his work at the FBI had taught him something - when people acted this way, they were capable of doing pretty much anything.