Work Text:
A Cast of Characters
by Cat_Willow
Charlie never dreamed that breaking his right arm would cause so much change and inconvenience in his life. He’d suddenly acquired a full arm cast that was secured to a thick waist band by a rigid traction rod to hold up his arm in a very unwieldy and uncomfortable position. For now, writing on boards was pretty much out as he was terrible at using his left hand, so he was reduced to pecking out math work, notations, and class lectures on his laptop. This was not helpful for class presentations. Charlie didn’t actually have to teach under the circumstances, but he felt an obligation to his students and didn’t want to stay at home all day, anyway. Amita tried to help with writing class examples and other notations as he dictated them, but the process was unbearably slow and distracting, and he snapped at her repeatedly. Although she took his bad temper in stride, Charlie felt bad about being so unappreciative.
Of course, Charlie knew that Don wasn’t consulting him about interesting and important FBI cases while he was laid up. Not only wasn’t he getting to see as much of Don as he wanted, but he was also missing the collegiality he’d developed with the rest of the team. Although he knew it would be more logical to appreciate this break from the demanding consulting work, he found himself wondering what Don and the others were doing throughout the day and what tantalizing data they were trying to examine without him. Knowing the value of properly analyzed theories and conclusions, Charlie also had nightmares about Don or someone else possibly getting hurt without his input.
And just the daily inconveniences of dealing with the huge cast was driving him nuts! Since he was unable to ride his bike back and forth to work, Charlie had to rely on whoever was available for rides, or he took cabs. Just getting in and out of cars was a challenge in itself! The cast also had to be covered while he took showers and he had trouble getting dressed one-handed. Sleep was difficult because he had to prop up the arm and couldn’t roll over. Charlie could barely walk down the hallway without banging the cast against the wall, which hurt like hell! Alan was more than willing to help out by doing all the cooking, laundry, errand running, etc., but that just made Charlie feel dependent again and even more grumpy.
Larry was, as usual, gentle and practical in his support, letting Charlie know that he could come to Larry’s house whenever he needed to get away. Usually Charlie felt very comfortable at Larry’s, enjoying the closeness of his long-time friend and confidant. But the cast made Charlie feel unattractive somehow, and he inexplicably felt unwilling to spend time at Larry’s home while he felt so clumsy and unappealing. Since he felt very uncomfortable with himself, Charlie even stopped visiting Larry in his office.
In all, Charlie was becoming exhausted, hardly getting anything done, avoiding Larry, missing Don and his FBI colleagues, snapping at people, feeling angry at being so dependent, and becoming more depressed by the day.
Early into the third week of The Cast From Hell, Charlie sat at his office desk with his head in his left hand and his right propped up on a pile of books. He was waiting for Don to finish up his day and swing by CalSci to give him a ride home. Suddenly, he heard shuffling in the hall and what sounded like whispering and a high pitched laugh. A Larry laugh. Happy to hear his friend’s merriment after days strained by Charlie’s frustration and avoidance, he started to get up to see what was going on.
The door to his office burst open and a large group of people poured in. Don was in front, carrying a big white box. Amita was close behind, holding a paper bag. Then, Charlie was amazed to see a huge collection of helium balloons enter the room, framing Larry’s smiling face. Also in the group were Meghan, David, and Colby from Don’s office, Alan, and a few of his regular graduate students.
Don carried the white box up to the desk and set it down. He opened the top with a flourish, and Charlie saw a big sheet cake topped with the message "We love you, Charlie!" Larry was busy tying the bunch of balloons to Charlie’s chair, commenting, "We were hoping these might raise your spirits, Charles. Depending, of course, on what type of spirits you want raised and on what plane they might exist. We can at least suck some helium and raise your voice."
Amita took out paper plates and plastic forks from her bag, and then dumped out a varied collection of felt tipped markers. "We want to write on your cast how important you are to all of us and how much we’ve missed you," said Meghan, with a wink.
All Charlie could do was look gratefully at the assembled group of family, friends, and co-workers and say, "That cake had better be chocolate!"
end