FIC: Fantasy (Crimin4l Numb3rs)
Title: Fantasy
Series: Crimin4l Numb3rs
Author: Valerie Vancollie
Characters: Charlie, (Don)
Rating: PG
Summary: Charlie finally realizes a childhood dream.
Spoilers: Uncertainty Principle
Timeline: This drabble takes place not long after Starting Over and long before Humanity.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Numb3rs characters, items or situations. I only lay claim to the original aspects of the fic.
Charlie's finger froze over the enter key. This was it. If he did this, there would be no turning back. Was he really ready for this? Ready to risk everything?
Oh, he didn't doubt what he was about to do would be entirely undetectable. That wasn't what worried him. Even their experts wouldn't be able to trace it. No, it was Don that worried him. Would Don stand by him when he admitted the truth? Or would he turn him over to his precious Bureau?
If it were anyone else, Charlie would be able to determine what their decision would be. But Don... Don was different.
His brother was an enigma and it frustrated him at times. He had more data on Don than on the people he occasionally did problems on and yet he could never seem to predict what Don would do as he did the strangers' actions.
Don was his personal P vs. NP.
Charlie didn't think he would turn him in, especially not after what he'd witnessed recently, but he couldn't be sure. Hence his hesitation. He'd felt more alive in the past ten minutes than he had for years. He'd dreamed of testing his math against that of the country's best. He'd fantasized about it when his classmates would tease him about the uselessness of his numbers.
The mere thought had been enough to fill him with excitement; the illegality of it enticing him. To hack the complex systems supposed to protect all manner of important things from secrets to money to information. It was all there, hidden behind encryptions and firewalls and a myriad of other protections; just waiting for him to extricate.
But Don...
What would Don do?
Charlie looked at the screen, hesitating before he hit the enter key and unleashed havoc.