WIP Amnesty: 'Carl the Inquisitor' (NUMB3RS)

[browngirl]

Title: 'Carl the Inquisitor'
Fandom: NUMB3RS
Rating: As it is: PG As it would have been: PG
Characters: Carl, Don, Billy, Charlie, Alan
Notes: I wrote this drabble rewind sequence (numb3rs_100 Rewind Prompts: Reunion, Toast, Feast, Home) but it didn't quite work. My roommate, who gave me the idea in the first place, thinks I should change the dinner in #3 to a case, and have the Eppeses show up in #4, but I couldn't think up a coherent plot, alas.

Lomedet's recommendation for title sources:
As for a title - I just opened up my poetry book to 'Hymn to God, my
God, in my Sickness' by John Donne, and was struck by this stanza:

Is the Pacific Sea my home? Or are
The eastern riches? Is Jerusalem?
Anyan, and Magellan, and Gibraltar,
All straits, and none but straits, are ways to them,
Whether where Japhet dwelt, or Cham, or Shem

'All straits and none but straits' (or some tweaked version thereof)
might be a workable title for this.



Years ago, Carl taught Don; Carl worries about Billy's brutal influence on Don. Years after that, over a drink, Don teases him about becoming a pencil pusher. Carl imagines the family feast now that Charlie has his clearance back. Don invites Carl over for dinner, Charlie boggles, Alan understands.


Don invites Carl over for dinner, Charlie boggles, Alan understands.


Prompt: Reunion currently 125


Carl leans back in his chair, watching Don Eppes come around the corner. He's laughing with a couple of the new agents, and Carl can see his smile all the way from here, his easy swagger, the way their eyes follow him as he spins with athletic grace to address someone lagging behind. He may not have been the tallest or strongest student Carl had at Quantico, but Don was always one of the toughest, always one of the leaders.

Then Carl's own smile reverses when Billy Cooper follows, that rulebreaking thug. Carl frowns as he watches Don slap Billy's back, considering patterns of influence and the troubling trend of violence in Don's last several reports, until Don smiles at him through his glass office door.



Prompt: Toast, Word count: 127 cut 2

"It's just -- I can't believe it, man." Don looks up from his beer, and though his smile is still easy his eyes are a little wide when he says, "You, of all people, driving a desk."

If Carl weren't thinking he'd probably point out that one day Don too will grow tired of tackling bad guys through glass windows, that catching them from a desk with the net of the law is just as much of a victory without the contusions and scars. Instead, he glances down into his scotch, then evenly replies, "it's where I can best serve the FBI."

Don shrugs, eyes narrowing as he laughs. "All right, then." He hefts his beer. "To Carl McGowan, the most badass pencil-pusher the Bureau's ever seen."




Prompt: Feast, Set during: Jack of All Trades Word Count: 140

It's the surprise in Don's eyes that prevents Carl from walking away. He'd been disgustedly expecting snide triumph when he gave Don the news, and at first he thinks the shock is all a sham.

Then, fixing his tie in the Men's room mirror, Carl realizes Don's being honest, that for a moment he saw the clear-eyed young man who won his respect at Quantico. So, he makes a point of personally returning Charlie's pass to Don, of confirming he really saw confusion where he thought he'd see vindication.

Carl finds himself wondering if Don's expecting the same surprise when he looks up and says, "hey, come over to dinner Friday." He must see something he thinks he can work with, because he grins briefly as he adds, "Hey, since Charlie's clearance is restored, I'm sure my dad's planning a feast."




Prompt: Home Word count: 100

"So, what does your brother think of your inviting me over?" Carl asks, eyeing at the Don's family home. He deliberately didn't go easy on the Eppes brothers, and the younger Eppes seemed to take it a bit personally.

"I, uh." Don rubs the back of his neck, comically nervous. Carl resists laughing with an heroic effort, which is completely wasted when Charlie Eppes opens the door and his eyebrows hike up into his hair.

"What the-- !" Charlie sputters, and Carl hears Don's muffled snickers behind him, sees beyond Charlie's hunched shoulder Alan Eppes smiling as he shakes his head.

Comments

[1trackmind.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of Don inviting McGowan to dinner.

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

Oh, good. Thank you for telling me so; I was afraid I'd laid it on a bit thick there.