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It Changes Everything	By : IrenaAdler Category: M through R > NUMB3RS Views: 4228 -:- 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
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Colby was at a loss.�
He knew how to infiltrate an enemy troop, kill a man with his bare
hands, shoot the center of a target a hundred yards away, but he had no idea
how to approach Charlie.� He couldn�t
exactly say, �Hey Charlie, David said you were into sex with guys now.� How about you give me a try?�� David was getting impatient with him, chafing
at the promise that Colby had extracted.�
Colby had come over to Charlie�s office on the pretense of checking Charlie�s
progress on a case for Don, but really to try and make some sort of start on
his own personal case.

Colby stood by Charlie�s desk while Charlie gathered
together some file folders to take to the FBI office.� Colby fished around in Charlie�s gumball jar
and found one of the few remaining red ones.��
His mind seemed completely devoid of words.� Charlie had looked at him curiously, and
Colby knew he must be acting weird, but at the moment he�d rather walk naked
into a Taliban encampment than ask Charlie for a date.

With one last questioning look, Charlie headed out the
door.� Colby wished for the days when
Charlie didn�t drive and had to be chauffeured anywhere.� As it was, they would just meet at the FBI
office, but Colby found himself walking next to Charlie towards Charlie�s car,
in the opposite direction of Colby�s own car.�
They walked silently.� Colby
wasn�t even sure Charlie knew he was there. �Charlie�s active brain was probably still tied
up in the problem that Don had set him.�
In contrast, Colby�s brain was still empty of anything useful to say to
this brilliant, attractive person at his side.

A large, dark-haired man approached Charlie and said, �Dr.
Eppes?�

Charlie said foggily, �Yes. Do I��

The man raised a gun.

Colby�s hand was instantly at his hip, pulling his gun.� He stepped in between the man and
Charlie.� He shoved Charlie backwards and
yelled, �Run!�� The man smacked Colby�s
gun from his hand, but instead of diving after it, like the man expected, Colby
snapped his fist forward and took the man in the jaw.� Two short jabs and Colby knocked away the
man�s gun and drove him to his knees.

�Stop!� A harsh voice snapped.

Colby spun around � and froze.� Behind him a second man was holding a gun to
Charlie�s head.� Immediately, Colby held
up his hands and cursed himself for not checking that Charlie had gotten
away.�

The first man picked up both his dropped gun and
Colby�s.� He pointed the gun at Colby�s
head.

�No!� Charlie gasped. �Wait!�

�Yeah,� the second man said unexpectedly.� �Two for the price of one.� The professor and an FBI
agent.�

The first man scowled then nodded.� He lowered the gun but before Colby could
draw a relieved breath, the man kicked Colby in the stomach.� Colby grunted and folded to the ground.� The man kicked him again and again,
connecting with his side and shoulders and legs, while Colby curled up in a
ball and held tight to every instinct to fight back.� He knew the man wouldn�t stop shooting him a
second time.

�Stop it!� Charlie begged.

�We gotta move,� the other man said at the same time.

A few more good kicks then Colby�s attacker stood back.� �Get up,� he snapped.� �And don�t try anything.� My partner has a very quick trigger.�

Colby stood up slowly, partially to not look threatening,
partially because he could already feel the bruises forming across his body.� He held up his hands and glanced at Charlie.� Charlie was pale and shaking.� Colby tried to reassure him with a small
smile.

The man came around behind Colby and shoved him towards a
nearby van.� The back doors swung open
and Colby carefully walked towards it.�
There were two more men inside and they grabbed Colby and yanked him
into the van.� Colby didn�t resist as he
was pushed to the floor, roughly blindfolded and his hands tied behind his
back.�

Colby was thoroughly searched, patted down from head to
foot, every pocket turned out.� They
found his knife and backup gun.� They
pulled his cell phone from his belt and Colby felt air from a window being
opened nearby.� There was a series of
distant thunks that told Colby that everything they�d extracted, from wallet to
phone to watch, was now at the side of some road.� Another series of thunks was probably
Charlie�s phone and wallet.

�Who are you?�� Colby
asked, but got no answer.� �What do you
want?�

He waited for a moment, but it was clear that their captors
had no interest in conversation.�

Colby shifted slightly until his shoulder bumped up again
another bound body.�

�Charlie?� Colby asked, �Are you alright?�

�Yeah.� Charlie said,
his voice shaky.

�I�m sorry,� Colby whispered to Charlie.� �I should have been more alert.�

�How could you know?��
Charlie responded.� �We were just
walking across campus.�

�I should have known,� Colby repeated stubbornly.� �Still, someone must have seen us.� The team will be right on our tails.�

�Hmm,� Charlie said, unconvinced.� Colby couldn�t offer anything more, since he
was sure himself that this operation had been too carefully planned to end that
easily.

The van bounced and Colby couldn�t restrain a grunt as his
bruised body jostled against the hard floor.

�Are you hurt?�� Charlie whispered.� Colby could picture Charlie�s blindfolded
face turned towards him.�

Colby said, �Just bruises, I�m fine.�

�Shut up,� snapped one of their captors and they were
silent.� There wasn�t much more to say at
the moment anyway.� Their moment of
opportunity would come and Colby needed to be ready for it.� More
ready than you were earlier.� God, what a fuckup you are, Granger.

Colby rested his head against the cold floor and tried to
relax so that he wasn�t bounced as much as the road underneath the van got
steadily rougher.�� He tried to think of
an area near CalSci that had bad roads but he just didn�t know this part of the
county that well.

After a long while � an hour? �
Colby felt the van slowing and stop.� He
heard the doors swing open and a foot nudging his ribs.� He carefully rolled to a sitting position and
was manhandled out the door.� He stumbled
as his feet hit the ground and had to bite down on his training that told him
how to take down the men on both sides of him.�
Not while he didn�t know where Charlie was.

Hands turned him around and shoved him between the shoulder
blades.� Colby started walking.� He heard a soft grunt that he recognized as
Charlie�s and a second set of stumbling footsteps.� Colby slowed his walk until he could hear
Charlie right next to him.�

�I�m right here,� Colby whispered.� �It�s okay.��
I�ll make it okay.

They were dragged to a stop and turned around.

�Start recording,� said an unknown voice near Colby�s left
side.� A beep as a video camera was
turned on.

Colby�s stomach plummeted.�
They were filming.� They were
going to film their execution.� After
surviving so many things, he was going to die in some deserted spot in LA, blindfolded
and helpless, taking Charlie with him.

No!�

Colby bent his knees and kicked to the side, feeling the
satisfying thud of his foot meeting someone�s body.

He tried kicking out again, but hands were on his chest,
shoving him backwards.� He stumbled and
the world dropped out from underneath him.�
He was falling, falling into a deep hole.

Unable to see it coming, he hit the ground wrong, his body
twisted.� Pain tore into his side.

Above him, voices talking.�
Charlie begging.� Then a laugh.� Then a gunshot.

Adrenaline slammed through Colby.� �Charlie!�
he screamed.

A dull thump, the sound of a body landing
on concrete.�

�Charlie?�

No answer.

�No, no, no, no,� Colby moaned.� He turned his head and roughly scrubbed his
face against the floor until his blindfold slid off on one eye.� In the light filtering down from above, he
could see they were in some sort of old storage hold.� Charlie was lying in a heap on the other side
of the small square room.� Colby rolled
over to him, ignoring the pain that shot through his chest.� He struggled to free his hands.

�Charlie?� he asked again, straining to hear if Charlie was
breathing.

�Ohh,� Charlie gasped.

�Charlie!� Colby cried, with relief so intense it hurt.� �You�re alive!�

�Ohh ��

�What happened?� Colby asked, still trying to free his
hands.� He finally managed to yank his
right wrist out of the rope, loosing several layers of skin in the
process.� He quickly untied his left
wrist and tugged off his blindfold.� Even
in the faint light, he could see a growing patch of blood on Charlie�s right
thigh.

�Shot me,� Charlie groaned.�
�Why?�

�I don�t know.�� Colby
carefully examined Charlie�s thigh.� �Not
too bad.�

�Feels bad,� Charlie said, hissing when Colby shifted his
leg.

�It�s on the outside of the thigh where there aren�t any
major arteries.� It went right
through.� Shouldn�t
bleed badly either.�� Colby shook
his head, confusion warring with relief.�
�They deliberately didn�t want you to die from this.� I can only guess they wanted to film you
getting shot to show � Don maybe?�

�Shot me,� Charlie said again in disbelief.�

Colby reached for Charlie�s wrist to check his pulse.� Charlie�s skin was cold and clammy, his pulse
fast and ragged.� �Damn, Charlie, you�re
going into shock.�

�I just got shot,� Charlie reminded him doggedly.

�Yeah and shock can kill you just as easily as a bullet
wound.��

Colby examined their surroundings.� It was a concrete room, about ten feet square.� The ceiling was at least thirty feet above
their heads, with a grill that let in the faint light.� Small mounds of leaves and sticks were piled
up in the corners and a few empty paint cans lay spread about.

Colby�s attention turned inward to check his own state.� He�d been beat up pretty bad by the
kidnappers, but it was just superficial, just bruises.� The fall had been worse. �At least two ribs were broken on the left side
of his ribcage.� He�d heard and felt the
sickening snap.� But no bones had come
through the skin and there wasn�t any blood, so Charlie wouldn�t have to know.� Colby understood how to deal with pain.� His brain was already shutting off pain
impulses from his ribs.� He would pay
dearly for that later but at the moment he needed to be alert to help Charlie.

Under Colby�s hands, Charlie had started to shake.

�We need to get you warm,� Colby said, pulling off his light
jacket.� He draped it across Charlie�s
arms.�

Pressing his left arm against his broken ribs, Colby
stumbled over to the nearest pile of leaves.�
He was pleased to see that the leaves hadn�t dried out yet.

�What�s wrong with your side?�� Charlie asked.

�Just a bruise,� Colby lied.�
�No big deal.�

�Ok,� Charlie said.�
�They shot me.�

�I know,� Colby said, picking out the sticks and gathering
the leaves together into a pile.� �I wish
they�d shot me.�� He gave a wry
laugh.� �I�m almost used to it.�

�Getting shot?��
Charlie said, startled.

�Lost count of the bullets that have been
pulled out of me.�

�From when you were in Afghanistan?�

�There and � other places.��
He began the painful walk to the next corner, grabbed as many leaves as
he could and carried them back to the first corner.

�In LA?�� Charlie asked, watching him.

�Not yet,� Colby said, making his way to the third
corner.� He was starting to feel
lightheaded, so he forced himself to pause and catch his breath even though
most of him was screaming he needed to get Charlie warm.

�You okay?�� Charlie
asked.

�Yeah, just taking a break.�� He started moving again and finally got all
of the leaves sorted from sticks and piled up in one corner.� He gathered together the paint cans and made
a small stack of the cans near the leaf pile.�
He returned to Charlie.

�I need to bind your wound,� Colby said.� He thought for a moment then pulled off his
tennis shoes.� He pulled off both socks,
hopefully not too dirty, and put his shoes back on over bare feet.� He undid his belt and slid it out of his
jeans.� He stuffed each sock into a
ball.�

�Grab my shoulder,� Colby said.�

When Charlie complied, Colby said, �Grip it as hard as you
need to.� This is going to hurt.�

As gently as he could, Colby lifted Charlie�s bloody
thigh.� Charlie hissed and his fingers
dug into Colby�s shoulder.� Colby pressed
a sock against the entrance and exit wounds and Charlie gasped.� Quickly, Colby wrapped the belt around
Charlie�s thigh, going around twice, and buckled it.� It held the makeshift bandages in place.

Charlie�s hand was trembling harder and Colby looked in
alarm at Charlie�s face.� It was pale
with a sheen of sweat.

Colby swore under his breath and dragged Charlie over to the
leaf pile.� Colby sat with his back
against the cold wall and gritting his teeth against the pain, pulled Charlie
onto his lap.

�What?� Charlie said in surprise.

�Got to get you warm,� Colby said, situating Charlie�s back
against his chest, Charlie�s legs on top of his.� �Now, I know this is gonna hurt, but you need
to put your feet up on the paint cans.�

�Why?��

�It�ll help the blood flow to the parts that really need
it.�

With an agonized grunt, Charlie propped his legs up on the
cans.� He now lay slumped down against
Colby�s chest, his ass on Colby�s thighs.�
Colby was relieved that this also took his weight off Colby�s broken
ribs.

�Can you help me pull the leaves over top of us?� Colby
asked.�

With Charlie�s shaky help, Colby got the leaves over both of
their torsos.� He packed the leaves as
tightly around them as he could.� He
tucked his jacket around Charlie�s chest and draped his arms around Charlie�s
shoulders.� Finally, he let himself lean
back against the wall and close his eyes.� Pain and reaction thudded through him.�

I thought they were
going to kill us, right there.� If they�d killed Charlie � His arms
tightened unconsciously around Charlie as he remember the horrible sound of
Charlie�s body hitting the ground, the terror of finding Charlie dead.�
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It Changes Everything