A/N: This is a oneshot written for the NFA Nepal Charity auction. This story marks the first time I've ever written fanfiction outside of NCIS. It's a Numb3rs oneshot, and I don't know if I've got it exactly right, but I did my best. It's essentially an episode tag for Sniper Zero which is Ian Edgerton's first appearance.

Disclaimer: I don't own Numb3rs or the characters. The recognizable dialogue is the property of the Numb3rs franchise.

Abstract Minds
by Enthusiastic Fish

Ian saw the first shot. He saw the target, but for the moment, the target wasn't important. The shooter was.

The game was on, but it had to be fast. It was best when it was fast. He started to scan. Another shot. Crane was there. He was shooting, but Ian knew he almost had him.

One more shot.

There he was.

Ian took aim, all the sounds around him fading away.

One shot.

One kill.

Shooter down.

He got up and walked over to where Charlie and Don were on the ground.

"Shooter is down. Is he okay?"

Don didn't even pay attention.

"What are you crazy? You could have got yourself killed!" Don said.

"I was, uh...just working on some probabilities as to where Crane might have positioned himself," Charlie said, sounding breathless.

Ian reached down and picked up Charlie's omnipresent clipboard. He looked at the results.

"Actually, he was pretty close," Ian said, impressed in spite of himself.

They came at the same problem from such different directions, and yet, they'd both hit on the same result.

The shooter in the building.

"You all right?" Don asked, still focused on his brother.

"I...I'm sorry," Charlie said as they stood up.

"It's all right," Don said, more calmly. "Next time, use a phone, all right?"

Ian couldn't help but smile a little as they walked away. If he hadn't already known that Charlie and Don were brothers, it would have been obvious just from that little exchange...and it was patently obvious which was the older brother. Terry saw his expression and she smiled, too.

Then, it was back to work. For the next few hours, they were at the crime scene. Ian was making his statement. It certainly helped that he'd killed Crane in the midst of a firefight. No question as to who was in the wrong.

Finally, things calmed down a bit, and he went back to the office. Don was still at the crime scene, as the lead agent in the case.

There was Charlie, alone, staring at the photos of the victims. No clipboard.

No math.

Maybe. Ian wasn't sure if Charlie really ever got away from the math. Nearly everything he'd said had been couched in mathematics. Maybe not now, though.

He walked in.

"Still abstract to you?" he asked.

Charlie looked at him, a little startled.

"What?"

Ian gestured at the board.

"Is it still abstract to you?"

"You mean because I could have been victim ten?"

"Something like that."

Charlie looked back at the photos and then looked down for just a moment.

"Actually...yes. It is. In the moment, it wasn't. Not at all, but now...it kind of is."

Ian smiled.

"Is it for you?" Charlie asked, looking at him. "I mean...you killed someone today."

"A serial killer."

"Yes, I know, but it was still killing someone. Is it abstract for you?"

"You mean does it really bother me?"

"Yeah."

"No. It doesn't," Ian said. "This is my job."

"You said that snipers love it."

"We do."

"Do you?"

"Yes."

"Even when you kill someone?"

Ian smiled again. "Professor, I told you before that my job is to get inside the mind of a killer. The important thing is that I don't stay there. If I got excited or upset every time I had to shoot someone, I'd be terrible at my job and either someone would be dead who shouldn't be or I'd be dead because I couldn't hack it."

"So...it doesn't bother you that it doesn't bother you?"

"No. It's a relief. I go home and I don't take it with me. That's what you're doing. Just because you do it with math and I do it with technical analysis doesn't mean that we're not both reducing the situation to an abstraction."

Charlie seemed bothered by the comparison.

"And guess what. There's nothing wrong with that."

"Isn't there?" Charlie asked. "I use math because that's what I do. It's how the world makes sense, but...but people still died. Eight people died. Nine, if you count Nathan Crane."

"And would it do them any good for you to have a meltdown? It wouldn't," Ian said. "If you're going to stick around here, you need to realize that you might be in danger and you need to deal with it. If not, you won't help your brother, and you won't do yourself any good."

Ian started to leave.

"Agent Edgerton."

He turned back.

"How did you get into this?"

"I found something I was good at and I kept doing it," he said.

He started to leave again.

"Agent Edgerton."

He turned back once more.

"Yes?"

Charlie seemed to be warring with himself but then, he met his gaze.

"You probably saved my life...a lot of lives today. Thank you."

Ian smiled. "Anytime, Professor. Anytime."

Then, he headed out, satisfied that the job was done.

FINIS!