Adult-FanFiction.org : Television / Streaming

Undercover	By : IrenaAdler Category: M through R > NUMB3RS Views: 2309 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own NUMB3RS, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
- 16
Part 15� Waiting for News

After a long while, Don ran out of
tears.� For the moment.� His chest ached, his throat hurt, and his
eyes felt gritty.� He pulled back from
his dad, feeling embarrassed.

�Thanks,� he muttered.

�Mm-hmm,� Alan said with studied
casualness.�

�Bathroom?�

�Out and to the left.�

Don went to the bathroom and awkwardly
scrubbed his face with a damp paper towel.�
He stared at his face in the mirror, seeing the naked fear in his
eyes.� Thank God my family is here.

With a start, Don realized that he
hadn�t made an important phone call � Will�s family.� He dug Will�s cellphone out of his pocket and
scrolled down to Cindi Stevens�s number.�
Don pressed the button and waited while it rang.�

Cindi answered groggily,
�Will?� What��

�It�s Don,� he interrupted.� �Will�s been hurt.�

�What happened?� Cindi snapped,
fully alert.� �Is he okay?�

�No,� Don said.� �He�s alive but he was shot twice, once in
the head.�� He heard Cindi�s sucked-in
breath.� �He�s in surgery now.� We should know more when that�s over.�

�Where are you?�

�UCLA Medical Center.� We were in the mountains but he got airlifted
here.�

�Damn, that�s serious,� Cindi
groaned.

�Yeah.�

�I�ll be there as soon as I can.�

�Okay,� Don said then added,� �And could you call � whoever you think you
should call?�

�You mean my mom.�

��Um, yeah,� Don admitted.

�Yeah, I�ll call her.� See you soon.�

Another hour crawled by.� Since there wasn�t anyone else but them in
the waiting room, Don turned on the TV, quietly so as not to wake Charlie and
Nena.� He sat close to the TV and stared
at SportsCenter, trying to interest himself in finding out what had happened in
the sports world while they�d been at the retreat.

�Don?� Cindi said.

Don looked up to see Cindi by the
door to the waiting room, her face pale.�

�He�s still in surgery,� Don said,
standing up.� Cindi rushed up to him and
gave him a tight hug.� Don hugged her
back, relieved that he�d gotten his personal breakdown out of the way.

�It�s bad, isn�t it?� Cindi
whispered.

�We don�t know yet,� Don said
quietly. ��But looking bad, yeah.�

She pulled back far enough to grip
his unbandaged forearms.� �How long has
he been in surgery?�

�Since two-fifteen, so almost four
hours now.�

Cindi grimaced.

�So, are your mom and dad coming?�
Don asked.

�Not yet,� Cindi said.� �Dad�s in surgery himself - working, of
course.� And Mom �she hates hospitals,
can you believe that?� The wife of a
doctor hating hospitals?� She said I�m
supposed to call her when there�s news.�

�Okay,� Don said, too lacking in
energy to hide his relief that Min Stevens wouldn�t be arriving soon.

Cindi squeezed his arms.� �Mom said I absolutely couldn�t call Amy and
wake her up on a night when she has work the next day, can you believe that?�

�Yeah,� Don said wryly.� �I can believe that.� But Amy will be mad if you don�t.�

�Yep,� Cindi acknowledged.� �So I�ll call her when there�s news.�

Don turned to his father.� �Dad?�
This is Cindi, Will�s sister.�
Cindi, this is my dad, Alan Eppes.�

�I would have guessed that you were
Will�s sister,� Alan said, standing and holding out his hand.� �You look a lot alike.�� Don looked at Cindi and realized that she did
look a lot like Will � shorter and female, but similar hair and facial shape.� Cindi kept her hair short and stylishly cut,
but her eyes held the same mischievous twinkle.�
Well, normally they had a mischievous twinkle.

�Good to meet you, sir,� Cindi
said, warmly shaking his hand.� �Will
thinks you�re nothing short of astonishing.�

�Oh?� Alan said with raised
eyebrows.�

�Will isn�t used to, well, acceptance.�

�No,� Alan said quietly.� �I�ve gotten than impression.� And it�s Alan, please.�

�Alan,� she said with a smile.

�And our sleeping beauties there,�
Don said, pointing to Charlie and Nena in the corner.� �My brother, Charlie, and my sort-of-niece,
Nena.�

�I�ve heard so much about them,�
Cindi said, looking at them with interest.�
�The math genius and the sweetest, smartest, most athletic little girl
on the planet.�

Don chuckled, startling
himself.� �We enjoy being uncles.�

�Yeah,� Cindi said, her smile
fading.� �Too bad this is how I get to
meet them.�

Don nodded, his slight good humor
vanishing.

�So, what happened?�� Cindi said.�
�Do we know?�

�Yeah,� Don sighed.� �I was there, we were actually undercover
together.�

Cindi looked surprised.� �But I thought you were in the FBI?�

�It�s a long story,� Don said and
gave her a brief overview of the last week.�
He had a feeling that he�d be telling this story a lot. �When he finished, they sat silent, mulling
over what might have been.

�So, Cindi,� Alan said with a
bright smile.� �I hear you work for the
Angels.� I�d love to hear about your job,
including, of course, any juicy baseball stories you have.�

Cindi gave him a small smile and
started talking about her job.� Don
listened with half an ear.�� She was in
the middle of a story about a well-known pitcher, naming no names, when Megan
and David walked in.�� Don got to his
feet.

Megan came over quickly and hugged Don.� David squeezed him on the shoulder.�

�We were just downstairs,� Megan
said.� �Colby thinks they�re almost done
with the surgery.�

Don nodded.� �He know anything more?�

�No, just that the doctor seemed
satisfied with the work.�

�Good, good.� Of course, to a doctor that could just mean that Will didn�t die.

�Hi,� Cindi said, standing up.� �I�m Will�s sister, Cindi.� You must be Megan and David.�

Megan smiled and shook Cindi�s
hand.� �Am I wearing a name tag that I
forgot to take off?�� Megan did have her
badge clipped to her belt, but nothing with her name on it.

�Will and I talk pretty regularly,�
Cindi said, shaking David�s hand as well.�
�He�s told me all about you guys, like the time you went skydiving.�

�Did he tell you that he was the
only one to throw up?�� David asked.

�No,� Cindi chuckled.� �He didn�t.�

Megan went and sat down next to
Alan.� She took his hand.� �How are you?�

�Me?� Alan said, startled.�

Megan smiled at him in that
knowing, sympathetic way that Don had seen crumble hardened criminals.� His father had no chance.

Alan slumped.� �It was the
phone call,� he said.� �The phone call we
had been dreading since Don joined the FBI.�

�And it doesn�t matter that it
wasn�t Don,� Megan said quietly.

Alan looked up at Don, and Don was
surprised at the anguish in his eyes.� �I
know Don,� Alan said hoarsely.� �He�s
gonna blame himself.� If I lose Will,
I�ll lose Don, anyway.�

Don grimaced, feeling a hot flush
spread over his face.� �It was my
fault.� I should have known there was a
hidden shooter.� I could have jumped him
before he shot Will.�

�Or you could be dead,� Megan said
gently.� �You can�t know.�

�I know that��

�Family of Will Stevens?� A voice
called from the door to the waiting room.�
Everyone spun to look.

A tall, brown-haired woman in a
white coat stepped forward.� �Dr.
Rose-Mary Jones.� I�m Will�s doctor.�

�How is he?� Don asked with a
strangled voice.

The doctor turned toward Don.� �The surgery went well.� The bullet had only partially penetrated the
skull, at an oblique angle, but it drove skull fragments into the brain.� It took us so long because the fragments had
scattered into the blood brain barrier and we needed to get them all.� We also extracted fragments from the temporal
lobe. We were able to remove the bullet and skull fragments without causing
further damage, but the brain is a complex thing.� We won�t know the extent of the damage until
Will regains consciousness.� There is significant
swelling and cerebral contusions or �bruising� of the brain.� Because of this, it may be a while until Will
wakes up.� He�s currently in a Level I
coma, which is the deepest coma.�

She continued, �The shoulder injury
could have been much worse.� The bullet
had lodged in the pectoral muscles, nicking the subclavian artery.� There was significant blood loss, but a full
puncture of the artery would have resulted in catastrophic blood loss.� Luck and the considerable development of the
pectoral muscles helped avoid that.�
We�ve closed the artery and removed the bullet.� Time and some physical therapy should return
that to full use.�� So, the head wound
remains our greatest concern.

�We�re moving him into Intensive
Care.� We need to monitor him very
closely for the next 24 hours at least, to make sure that there isn�t delayed deterioration.� It�ll take a few minutes to set up the room,
since it�s a private room because of the security requirements.� In fact, we�re giving him a double room since
no singles were available.� I�ll let you
know when you can see him.� When you do,
it will be one person at a time for five minutes only.�

She smiled and excused herself while
everyone but Don turned to each other, chattering in mingled anxiety and
relief.

Don followed the doctor out into
the hall and called quietly, �Dr. Jones?�

She stopped and looked at him, her
eyebrows raised.

Don stepped closer.� �I was � I was with Will when he was
shot.�� He swallowed.� �Could there � should I have done something different
to help him?�

Dr. Jones�s eyes softened.� �Not without significant medical
training.� You did fine � stabilized him
and kept him warm and slowed the bleeding.�

�Okay,� Don said with a flash of
relief that almost made his knees buckle.�
�Thank you.�

She smiled, nodded, and continued
down the hall.

Don leaned against the wall and tried to believe her.
- 14
- 15
- 16
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Undercover