FIC: In a Mirror, Darkly: Chapter 15/?
Title: In a Mirror, Darkly: Chapter 15
Author: Valerie Vancollie (valeriev84 [at] hotmail.com)
Characters: Don, Charlie, Alan, David, Colby, Nikki, (surprise)
Pairings: brief canon mentions of Charlie/Amita & Don/Robin
Rating: 15
Summary: There was a certain irony to the situation, that the brother who was a federal agent had been abducted to be used as leverage against the brother who was an applied mathematics professor at a highly respected college. Don Whump, Charlie Angst!
Betas: aleo_70 & fredbassett
Spoilers: Uncertainty Principle, Vector, Man Hunt, Protest, Dark Matter, Spree, Two Daughters, Brutus, Finders Keepers, One Hour, The Janus List, Breaking Point, Black Swan, When Worlds Collide, The Decoy Effect, Jack of All Trades, Arrow of Time, The Fifth Man, Greatest Hits, Angels and Devils
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Numb3rs characters, items or situations. I only lay claim to the original aspects of the fic.
Part IV: Alan: FBI
Chapter 15:
Thursday, 08:02
Violent Crimes Squad War Room A, LA FBI Office
"He's been drugged," Colby stated suddenly, staring hard at the photo he held before passing it back to David.
"What?" Charlie demanded sharply. "What makes you think that?"
"His eyes."
"Yeah, I see it," David said wearily, putting the photo down on the table. "Shit."
"See what?" Alan demanded, snatching up the photo and looking intently at his son.
"It's the quality of his stare, it's not fully focused," Colby explained with a little gesture of his hand. "It's hard to describe if you've never seen it for real."
"Why would they be drugging him?"
"To control him," Nikki stated quietly though her eyes were angry.
"But, they've got him tied down!"
"They're obviously afraid that he could cause them problems despite that," David said, running his hand over his face in a gesture so reminiscent of Don when he was stressed that it hurt.
Alan couldn't quite see what the three of them were referring to, but he trusted them to know what they were talking about. It was strange, and wrong, to think of his eldest like this, as though he was dangerous enough to warrant being drugged to control him, even when he was quite literally bound hand and foot to a chair. It was something he'd often struggled with over the years ever since Don had told Margaret and himself that he was joining the FBI. Above and beyond his dislike of the Bureau and all that it represented, he didn't like to think of his son, his baby boy, touching and handling weapons. To think of him as dangerous... he did his best not to think about it too much most of the time.
Don was his son, the rambunctious and precocious child who had caused him to come close to a heart attack on far too many occasions with his insatiable curiosity and the drive to discover the answers for himself. Unlike Charlie who had driven Margaret and himself nearly insane with his constant 'why's, Don had almost always taken it upon himself to discover the truth. Like where the koi went when they ducked out of sight beneath the rocks- before he knew how to swim. Or what the baby birds looked like in their nest- at the top of the tree. The list was varied and endless; even back then Donnie had seemed to be fearless.
So to think of his little boy, who used to love cuddling on his and Margaret's laps before Charlie came along, as dangerous was not only difficult, it was just plain wrong. To think of him as being such a big threat that tying him up wasn't enough to render him both helpless and safe to his captors... Alan just couldn't imagine it. Yes, he knew better than almost anyone else exactly how stubborn his son could be, but to go that far? Maybe he was better off not knowing exactly why they'd think Don was that dangerous. Though he complained at times that his eldest didn't share enough, he could admit that there were some things he was better off not knowing. Like that time Don had bluffed his way into getting someone to surrender instead of detonating a bomb.
One thing Alan knew for sure, though. With these men treating Donny as if he was that dangerous, deserved or not, they were making it impossible for him to escape on his own. Bound and drugged, he was completely helpless and at their mercy. The question was whether any true mercy would be shown him. Just looking at what had already been done to his son, to the damage inflicted upon him, Alan felt that the chances of that were very slim indeed. The reactions of Don's team didn't give him any hope that his assessment was wrong either.
"Is this why you decided to contact us?" Colby asked gently, though his fists remained tightly clenched and his eyes spat fire as they looked at the photo.
"N- no," Charlie admitted reluctantly as he shoved the fourth and final photo upside down onto the table as if it were burning him.
Unsure whether he could handle any more, Alan was amazed to see his hand reaching forwards instantly, unable to not look. Before he could touch it, though, David's hand reached out and gently grasped his wrist.
"You don't have to do this."
"Yes, yes I do."
"Alan-"
"Please."
"Dad, maybe it's better if you don't look," Charlie stated when David caved and released his wrist.
"Then you shouldn't have told me about this meeting," Alan said, grabbing the Polaroid and turning it over.
All it took was one look at the photo and Alan lost the battle against his nausea, barely making it to the trashcan just three feet away before he brought up everything he'd had for breakfast.
"Dad!"
"Alan!"
The cries hardly reached him as Alan tried desperately to get rid of the image before his eyes. It was all in vain, though he'd only seen the Polaroid for a few seconds, it was permanently burned into his mind. It seared as brightly across his eyelids as if he were holding the picture before him. He had never been squeamish about blood, but this was Donny's blood, his baby's blood, that was covering his boy. The knowledge that the wounds had been inflicted by what was undoubtedly a knife was almost worse than the sight of all the blood.
As clear as day, Alan could recall the look in Don's eyes as he'd followed the motions of the kitchen knife that he'd used to perform innocuous chores since that horrible night. What would have been running through Don's head when this had been done to him? Had he thought back to Radovic and the stabbing? Had he feared it happening again?
"Dad?"
"I'm done," Alan merely said as he leaned back, taking a few deep breaths.
"Here, take this," Nikki said, offering a glass of water.
"Thanks."
It took him a few moments, but Alan finally managed to pull himself together enough to get to his feet and allow David to guide him back to his chair. He could see the looks being passed between the agents and decided to cut them off before they could get any ideas.
"I'm not leaving."
"Alan, I think it would be best if-" David began.
"No."
"But-"
"No."
"Really-"
"No. I am not leaving, not until I hear everything Charlie has to say," Alan declared firmly.
He'd spent far too much time this week already not knowing. The uncertainty of Donny's fate had eaten away at him, his imagination running wild. Yes, what he'd seen and heard so far today were horrendous and killed off all of the remaining hope he'd somehow held on to that things would turn out better than everyone feared, but at least now he knew. There was no more void where anything and everything was possible.
His determination must have come across as the others retook their seats, albeit reluctantly.
"The shirt," Colby began awkwardly.
"My thoughts exactly," David said.
"What?" Charlie demanded.
"He's wearing a new one," Colby explained softly.
"Yeah, so?"
"Why would they give him a new one after they ripped his old one off? It's probably because there is something they didn't want you to see or know about."
"More?" Alan croaked.
"I'm afraid so," Colby confirmed, causing a small cry to escape Charlie.
"When did Banner bring you this one? Today?" Nikki inquired after a few seconds of silence, her expression pinched.
"He didn't. Bring it, I mean."
"Was it Frazer?" David probed, perking up now that he had something else to turn his attention to.
"Yeah."
"What made you think he might be the fugitive Colby had mentioned to you?"
"The way he was acting," Charlie shrugged, the manner in which his son's eyes flickered to him caused Alan's heart to sink impossibly further. "It seemed... personal. He- he kept talking about 'playing' with Don."
Alan moaned in distress and he noticed his youngest's hands had started to shake though he'd interlaced his fingers in an effort to hide it. His eyes were drawn back to the photos of their own volition and Alan felt the bile rise in his throat again as he noted the rapid increase in wounds his eldest possessed in each subsequent photo. If David was right in thinking that all of them, even the most recent with all the blood, were old and out-of-date... He didn't even want to contemplate what his boy might look like now, but his mind was more than willing to provide a multitude of options, all in glorious Technicolor and even with surround sound to show him what Donny might have sounded like as they were acquired.
"That's why you think he might kill Don?" Colby inquired.
"Yeah. He... said it didn't really matter to him if I took a long time to solve the problem, as it would give him more time with Don. And his eyes, they seemed to practically glow when he spoke of that, of 'playing.'"
"Unfortunately that fits with what we've heard of Frazer and what he threatened to do to Don," David stated.
"What about you?" Colby questioned. "Did he do anything to you? Or did he just reinforce what Banner had said and give you the fourth photo?"
"He... he had a knife," Charlie stated after a short pause and Alan felt his heart stop.
Both of his sons? This man, this monster, had threatened both of his boys? Although Charlie looked fine, he had the sudden urge to strip him and check to make sure that his youngest didn't have any hidden injuries like they assumed Don did. But that didn't make any sense, why would Charlie try and hide away injuries? There was no logical reason for it and, unlike his older brother, Charlie had never had the inclination to do so. It didn't lessen the urge to clutch his youngest to him as he was unable to do so with his eldest.
"Did he threaten you with the knife?" Nikki asked, breaking Alan out of his thoughts. "Did he hurt you with it?"
"No, he didn't hurt me with it, he said- said I'd be no fun as I'd already showed him fear."
It was a good thing the table was so sturdy, Alan thought as he gripped it hard enough that his knuckles turned white. He didn't need David's sharply indrawn breath or Colby's cursing to explain that one to him.
Oh, Donny!
His courageous, headstrong boy. Not for the first time, he wished that his eldest wasn't so stoic and stubborn. Alan had no doubt that he'd try and resist his captors in any way that he could, his expression on the first two photos proved that and, from the sounds of it, it was exactly that part of Don this man, Darien Frazer, enjoyed. Or rather, he enjoyed breaking through that mask. He could only hope that in smashing it, he also didn't break his son.
Much as it felt like things couldn't get any worse unless they actually killed Don, Alan only needed to look at his youngest's face to know that he was wrong, horribly wrong.
"It- the knife, it..."
"It was what, Charlie?" Colby asked softly, as if speaking any louder would make things worse.
"It was covered in blood."
The words hung in the air, no one making a sound as they penetrated. Alan didn't know for certain what was going through the minds of Don's teammates, but given how they all paled, he could take a good guess. Unlike himself and Charlie, they had actually seen Don right after he'd been stabbed; they'd have seen the blood and tried frantically to stop its flow as they waited for the ambulance to arrive. He himself hadn't and he was forever thankful for that. Knowing it had happened had been terrible enough, to actually see it...
Not that he wouldn't have been there in a heartbeat if it had been at all possible.
Charlie was breathing quite quickly now and his eyes had a faraway look to them as he repeated. "He... Frazer, he kept saying that he didn't mind if it took me a long time to solve the problem as it gave him more time to... play."
"Bastard!" Colby hissed through tightly clenched teeth. "When I get my hands on him, I'll-"
"Arrest him," David interrupted sharply, the look passing between the two of them clearly charged with something.
Alan wasn't sure what to make of it, but didn't really try to, instead closing his eyes as he tuned them out. Play. The word seemed so innocent, so childlike, that to hear it used in conjunction with the blood stained knife Frazer had shown Charlie and the Polaroids that clearly depicted what was being done to Don made it a hundred times worse. Kids were supposed to play, with a ball or toys or grown-up stuff. Not with knives or guns or whatever else had been used on his son. It was supposed to signify innocent joy, not... not the infliction of pain simply for... for...
Oh God, for the joy of hurting someone. Alan swallowed thickly at the thought but he knew inescapably that that was what they were dealing with here. Someone who did it because he liked seeing Donny in pain. A man who enjoyed watching his son hurt and seeing fear enter his eyes. Would he be successful? Alan honestly didn't know, normally he'd be tempted to say no, knowing Don's stubbornness only all too well. The knife, however, changed things drastically after what had happened so recently. The fact that Frazer had chosen to show Charlie that of all things meant that he had to at least know about Don having been stabbed. Despite the fact that they had never discussed it, Alan knew that Don was more affected by what had happened to him than he let on. He'd seen the way his son's eyes had tracked the sharp blades he used in the kitchen to chop vegetables and meat. It had taken everything he had not to falter and hide the knives from view, but the knowledge that it would most likely make things worse had allowed him to pretend that he hadn't noticed the telling look. The thought that Frazer had similarly uncovered Don's- what was it exactly? Fear, apprehension, weakness?- for knives didn't bode well and he struggled to keep his stomach under control.
He opened his eyes and looked around, desperately hoping for a distraction, but one look at Charlie's face dashed all of his hopes.
"What else is there?" Alan croaked, not recognizing his own voice.
Charlie shook his head, eyes wide and pleading with him not to ask again.
"Charlie, is there something else we need to know?" David questioned, his tone strained.
Unable to answer verbally, Charlie nodded, his eyes darting back to look at him and Alan wondered what else there could possibly be. What the hell else had this animal done to his baby boy? What else was there to do? How much more... torture was Donny to undergo before they managed to get him out?
If they-
No! Alan slammed the lid down on that particular thought. He could not go there; he would not entertain that particular thought. They were going to get Don free and away from that man, and they'd do it soon. It was just a matter of time. That was all.
No longer able to resist, Alan reached out and grasped one of Charlie hands in both of his own, the physical connection reassuring him that at least one of his boys was safe and sound. The desperation and need for him to make this stop, to make it better, that he could see within Charlie's eyes was difficult to bear as it only enhanced his own helplessness.
"Alan-"
"No," Alan countered firmly, not letting David get any further. "I'm not leaving. This is about Donny, I need to stay. I need to know. Charlie, please?"
Charlie caved under his gaze, his free hand coming up to clutch his tightly before he turned to look at the others. "He licked it. Frazer licked the blood off the knife and said... said..."
"What did he say?" Nikki coaxed as Colby leapt to his feet, clearly unable to remain seated any longer.
"That federal blood tasted exquisite."
Chapter 16