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“Hey, buddy.”
Charlie looked up from his whiteboard in the FBI office’s war room, only to find that Don wasn’t talking to him. His smile was directed at the doorway, which Colby was leaning against. Charlie felt his stomach twist just a little and quickly turned back to the board.
“Hey, Don. Just wanted to let you know that I ran those plates, but it turns out the car was reported stolen a week ago.”
“Got it. Maybe you can check out any surveillance footage where the car was originally stolen?” Don leaned back in his chair, eyes narrowed in thought.
Colby shook his head. “Already checked; there weren’t any cameras where it was parked.”
Don sighed, and turned to Charlie. “Chuck? Are you making any progress with those hot zones?”
Charlie cleared his throat, frowning. “A little… I really need more data, I don’t have much to work with so the zones are still pretty large.”
His brother nodded. “We’ll try to get that for you. In the meantime, do your best with what we got. It’s a whole lot better than nothing.”
Charlie gave him a small smile, and got back to work.
***
Don watched from the breakroom as Colby nodded off for the third time while sitting at his computer, his chin sliding off the hand it was resting on until he jerked awake, blinking his eyes rapidly. Don stirred a sugar packet into the stale coffee he’d just poured himself, and ambled over to Colby’s desk, putting his free hand on the younger man’s shoulder. Colby started, not having noticed Don come up behind him—something he would never have done if he was fully awake. He twisted in his seat to look up at his boss.
“Colb. I think it’s time for you to take a break. You’re not doing anyone any good right now; your brain needs sleep.”
Colby sighed, his eyes falling to the paper cup his boss was holding. “Nah, I think I just need more coffee.”
Don pulled the cup out of Colby’s reach. “Nuh uh, don’t try that with me. I’m taking you home, you’re going to sleep, and then you can come back to the office in the morning.” He paused to make a show of checking his watch. “Well, later this morning, to be more accurate.”
His subordinate raised his hands in surrender. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. I can get myself home, you don’t need to do that.”
Don shook his head. “And let you fall asleep at the wheel? Nope, you’re coming with me.”
Colby rolled his eyes, but wore a fond smile on his face. “Sure, Don, if that makes you feel better.”
***
“Colb, where are you? What’s your position?”
Don stepped carefully over a pile of bricks as he navigated the construction site. He frowned and tilted his head to speak into his radio again. “Colb?”
He heard a gunshot to his right, and took off running with his own gun at the ready. Stumbling over a partial wall, he found Colby lying on the ground, eyes shut tight as he grimaced in pain. The suspect they’d been chasing was gone.
“Hey—hey, Charlie. Are you with me? Where are you hurt?” Don was frantically checking Colby’s body for injuries when his wrist was grabbed lightly. He stopped, eyes flickering over the younger man’s face.
“Don,” Colby was looking at him now through half-open eyes. “Think he hit my vest. Feels like… got hit by a truck or somethin’. But I’ll be fine.”
Not ready to take Colby’s word for it, Don scanned Colby’s bulletproof vest. Sure enough, there was a bullet embedded right in the middle. Leaning back, he blew air out through his nose and closed his eyes briefly in relief. He opened them to see Colby squinting at him.
“What?”
“Nothin’. Was just trying to remember… did you call me Charlie?” A slow smile was starting to spread across Colby’s face.
Don turned red as he fumbled for something to say. “No! Why would I… no,” he pointed a finger at Colby, who was grinning now. “Your ears are messed up from that gunshot. Or you have a concussion. We need to get you checked out.” Realizing that was actually true, he grabbed his radio.
“Sure, Don. I won’t say a word.”
Don couldn’t help but smile back.
***
Don walked through the bullpen towards his office, slowing down to greet David and Colby, who were already at their desks.
“Hey, David, Colby.”
“Don’t you mean ‘Charlie’?” Don didn’t think that David’s grin could get any wider.
He leveled what he hoped was a very intimidating glare at Colby, who gave him an innocent “who, me?” look.
“Uh uh, don’t try that with me. Charlie’s done the puppy-dog eyes on me before too, and it doesn’t work.”
“Sounds like we’re a lot alike, huh?” Colby smirked. “Pretty easy to mix us up.”
“Aaaand speak of the devil.” David nodded toward the front of the office, grinning. Charlie was exiting the elevator, his backpack slung over one shoulder.
“Hey guys, I think I’ve found an expression we can use to trace…” Charlie paused, looking at each of the other men in turn. “Uh, did I miss something?”
“No,” Don cut in quickly, pointing a warning finger at David and Colby. “Nothing at all. Let’s go to the conference room and you can show me what you got.”
He ignored David and Colby’s laughter as he walked away with Charlie.
***
Charlie hated feeling like he’s the only one not in on a joke. It’s like high school all over again, including Don being the one to leave him out, exclude him, alienate him—
“Buddy? You with me?”
Charlie blinked, curls flopping as he whipped his head to look up at his older brother. “Sorry, just thinking,” he mumbled, busying himself with spreading his charts on the conference table.
“Aren’t you always?” Don ribbed. Charlie can hear the smile in his voice.
Charlie fidgeted with a pen for a moment, then fumbled it. Don caught it before it hit the floor.
“Whoa, careful.” He peered at Charlie, who turned his face away. “You sure you okay? Have you been getting enough sleep?”
“I’m fine, Don. Let’s just get on with it.”
A strong hand gripped his shoulder, turning him towards his big brother’s concerned face. He jerked his shoulder to shrug it off.
“Nuh uh, Charlie.” Oh, he’s Charlie now, no cute nicknames. Don is serious. “Tell me what’s going on. I saw that you were fine when you got out of the elevator, what happened?”
Charlie sighed. For all that Don could act like a jock, there was a reason he was the leader of the Violent Crimes team. Not a lot got past him.
“It’s stupid—” he started, before cutting himself off at Don’s unimpressed look. He started again. “Okay. It’s just that sometimes you and Colby and David… it can make me feel like I’m back in school with you. When you would hang out with your cool friends and would get annoyed if I tried to join in, and would make fun of me behind my back, you know?” He gave a one-shouldered shrug, embarrassed. “I know you guys are all in the FBI together, and I’m just a consultant and your little brother…”
“Whoa, whoa, hang on, buddy.” Don leaned down to look Charlie in the eyes. “That’s not stupid. I was a total jerk to you back then, and I don’t want you to ever feel like that now. Okay? I promise we weren’t laughing about you just now.”
“What were you talking about?”
Don groaned. “Well, they were really laughing at me. That’s why I didn’t want them to say anything.”
Charlie smiled. “You know that you have to tell me now.”
Don rubbed the back of his head, sheepish. “Okay, okay. The other day Colby took a shot in his vest. I was kind of freaked out and I, uh, accidentally called him Charlie. Now he’s told David about it, and neither of them will ever let me live it down.”
Charlie’s smile dropped as his eyes widened in surprise. “…Oh,” he got out. He tried to force a smile. “Yeah, that’s pretty embarrassing.”
Don narrowed his eyes at Charlie. “What’s wrong?”
Charlie’s mouth twisted. “Do you…” he hesitated. “Do you think of Colby as your brother? Like the little brother you, um, wish you had?” He purposefully avoided Don’s eyes as he spoke.
Immediately, Don’s large hands were grasping his shoulders, and his brother was leaning to get into Charlie’s field of vision. “What? No, Charlie! I mean, I care about Colby as an agent on my team, and as a friend, but I’ve never once compared him to you like that. You’re my brother, and I would never want to change that.”
“Then why would you mix us up?”
Don bit his lip, thinking. “I’m really not sure. I’ve seen him get hurt before, but honestly… I’m always worried about your safety since you started as a consultant. I know,” he held up a hand as Charlie opened his mouth to protest, “we’ve talked about it. But after we had the gunman incident at the office, and then you were ran off the road and shot at… Charlie, my worst fear is for you to get hurt because of me, because I wasn’t keeping you safe.”
Charlie blinked back tears. “You do keep me safe, Don. Really.”
Don gave him a small, tired smile. “And I’ll keep trying my best, buddy. I think seeing Colby get hurt like that, as someone whose safety is also my responsibility… it was like my brain was reliving a nightmare I’ve had over and over again.”
“Yeah,” Charlie said softly. “I get it.”
Don ruffled Charlie’s curls, and Charlie squawked, faux-angrily batting Don’s hand away, and made a failed attempt to smooth his hair back down. Don laughed. “You’ll always be my little buddy, and don’t you forget it.”
Charlie smiled. “Never.”