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Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
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Published:
2020-11-05
Completed:
2007-11-03
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18,706
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15/15
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Five Weeks

Summary:

Characters: Will/Don, Colby/Charlie, Alan, Nena, Megan, David
Rating:
FRT, PG-13
Summary:
What happened after "Janus List"
Part 1 - Between
Don watches Charlie not cope.
Disclaimer: Not my characters (except when they are), not my world, making no money.
Feedback:
Feed the author!
Warning: There will be spoilers for the episodes "Janus List" and "Trust Metric."
A/N: Sequel to my story "Solution". This will probably be three parts and won't be completed until after next week's episode.

Chapter 1: Chapter 1 - Between

Chapter Text

 

 

Five Weeks
by Irena Adler
irena_adler@hotmail.com


Part 1 - Between


Charlie didn't find the solution.

He just stopped working on it.

Seven days after Colby had been arrested, right in the middle of a chalkboard, Charlie stopped, deliberately put down the chalk, and walked out of the garage. Don didn't recognize that anything had changed, at first. Even Charlie had to take a bathroom break once in a while. Don just continued reading his newspaper until Charlie had been gone too long. He found Charlie in the house, calmly putting papers into his briefcase. He'd even showered and shaved. When asked, he said that he had a class tomorrow and was going into his office to prep. Don followed him out to his car and watched him drive away.

Initially, Don was relieved. Until he slowly realized, over the next week, that Charlie hadn't just stopped working on the problem, he'd stopped being Charlie.

He had become Professor Charles Eppes. With a vengeance.

Not only did he prep for and teach all of his classes, work his office hours and grade papers his TAs normally would, he responded to all of the invitations he'd received over the years for guest lectures in other classes and other departments. He talked to classes in psychology, law, physics, and more - and not just at CalSci. He drove to local colleges, high schools, elementary schools. He flew to more distant locations, returning only in time for his next class. Even when he was home, he wasn't Charlie. He slept, ate, worked on papers for publication, and responded to questions about his state of mind with blank incomprehension. Don even had the odd feeling that Professor Eppes was dating Amita again, but he sincerely hoped he was wrong about that. He couldn't help but notice that Charlie was no longer wearing his wedding ring. The mention of Colby's name in Charlie's vicinity would cause a slight twitch, then a complete and forceful changing of the subject.

As for himself, Don was able to forget about Colby for hours at a time. Then he'd turn to his team ... and find only Liz and the perpetually-angry David. Megan was gone, officially on leave, but Don privately believed she'd never return. She had been made brittle by her work with the DOJ, and Colby's betrayal had shattered her into irretrievable pieces. Don had tried to see her, but she wouldn't return his calls, even when he tried to explain he was just concerned as a friend. As for his remaining team, Liz was quietly efficient, keeping her head down and trying not to provoke David. Everyone, including Don, treated David as a loaded gun with a faulty trigger, a gun which had no safety, no discrimination between friend and foe. Don headed off any departmental attempts to get David into counseling, mostly to protect David from an inevitable firing, but also in a selfish attempt to save the last remnants of his team.

Don would go for days without looking at the tapes of Colby's confession. Then he would suddenly find himself in the viewing room again, watching the tapes over and over, trying to put his finger on what was so wrong about the interview. Was it Colby's body language, his easy confession, his eyes? Or was it just that Don didn't want to believe that he'd been so wrong about a man he'd trusted, loved like a brother? No one he knew went to visit Colby in prison, or even tried to find out if it would be allowed.

When it was time for Nena to return from her vacation with her mother, Alan, Will and Don got together and decided to take the coward's way out. Don picked her up from school and told her that her daddy was on long, dangerous job for the FBI and everyone was acting so strangely because they were worried about him. He also told her not to let her mother know that Colby was gone. Technically, by the custody arrangement, Nena shouldn't have kept coming to them, but they couldn't let her vanish like her father. In a way, Will, Alan and Don clung to Nena as a symbol of their once happy family. Nena became quiet and withdrawn, and got into trouble at school for the first time.

For all of them, time passed, laboriously, as if they were escapees being chased by vicious dogs - but after the initial surge of adrenaline had passed and all that remained was emptiness and the aftertaste of fear. As if the chase had gone on so long that they no longer remembered what it was like to rest, to breathe deeply. As if they wondered if there really were dogs behind them, but didn't dare turn to look, since confirming the dogs' existence would destroy their last hope. So they kept putting one foot in front of the other because that is what they'd always done, because there were no other choices, because there had always been the night and the chase and the tearing pain in their chests. Wounded, broken, and stubborn to the death, they stumbled on.

Four weeks after Colby had been arrested, Don and Will sat in lawn chairs in their backyard, staring up at the night sky and the few stars that could be seen through the bright haze of an LA night.

Don took a swig of yet another beer and asked, "Do ya think I'll evuh get my brothurr back?"

Will took a drink from his own beer before responding quietly, "He's undercover."

Don turned towards Will, knocking over several empty beer bottles and startling Monster who was sitting under his chair. Don frowned at the retreating back of his cat, at the overturned beer bottles, then at Will. "Huh?"

"He's undercover," Will repeated. "He's created a whole new persona and is living it as thoroughly as if his life depended on it. Perhaps it does." He twirled the bottle between his fingers then continued, "I've been there myself. When being yourself hurt too much to survive, when being someone else was the only choice other than suicide."

Don felt his eyes well up with tears and knew he was really drunk. Still, he reached over and grabbed Will's hand. "Don't ggo."

Will gave him a warm smile and entwined his fingers with Don's. "I'm not going anywhere," he reassured him.

Don groaned, "Thazwhat C-colbee said," and leaned towards Will. The chair tilted, the world shifted, Will swore.

Don found himself on his back in the grass, blinking up at the night sky, with his head in Will's lap, their hands still twined together. Will stroked Don's forehead soothingly with his free hand.

"'Mm drunk," Don said.

"I know," Will chuckled. "The signs are subtle but I'm learning to read them."

Don looked up at him, at the familiar, beloved face, at the earrings which twinkled in his ears like tiny stars. "Doya think `ll evuh get muh brothher back?"

Will's smile faded. "Yeah. Yeah, I do. Eventually, no matter how much you fight it, the real you always comes back. Piece by piece, maybe, but you can't be someone else forever. Believe me, I've tried. And when Charlie starts coming back to himself, it's gonna hurt like Hell. He'll really need us then."

Don nodded, though that made the sky wobble alarmingly. "I miss hmm."

"Charlie?"

"Yeauh. Whoodda thought."

"I miss him, too. I miss Colby, too. And just ... everybody. Everybody is different now."

"Meee too?"

"You, too, aein. And me. It's impossible not to be changed by something like this."

Don sighed and looked around for his beer bottle, then he changed his mind. "Woo-dja take me ta bed?"

Will smiled wryly. "I don't think you're up for anything at the moment."

"Zzzhust wanna be wissthh you. Shhhomplace not grrass."

Will stroked his cheek. "You got it, love. One non-grassy bed coming up."

"Don't ggo," Don mumbled, snuggled up to Will and fell asleep.

 

end part 1