Author: DreamBrother
Disclaimer: Numb3rs and whatever else you recognize isn't mine. Dear old Cato is, though.
Author's Note: Friends, Romans, Countrymen… ok Friends; we have reached the end of the movie. Credit goes to Jels over at FanRush for having Cato in this chapter (Thanks! It helped me make this chapter smoother). A comment from her made me realize I need to give my beloved evil darling a proper send-off. Like my English teacher said, back in 6th grade, we don't need to give our evil characters scars and greasy hair and lewd smiles to make them evil, some of the most evil people are charmers. And it's all about perspective. I think in a 007 movie, it was said, "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" and I like this one line from a book, "I can show you so many shades of grey about this whole affair to make your head spin."
Reference made to Season 2 eps In Plain Sight and Mind Games. Oh, and there's a quote from Season 1's Counterfeit Reality. Can you guess which?
C is for Cat Burglar
(Epilogue)
Charlie, for all his vast experience, wasn't very well acquainted with courts, despite having a lawyer for a mother. But today, he was going above and beyond the normal courthouse experience. It was an hour before the sentencing of John Miller, better known as 'Cato'. Charlie was not going to stay for the proceedings but he had a little mission to accomplish before Cato was carted off to the slammer. Nodding to the guard, he walked past the three empty cells until he stood in front of the occupied one at the end of the row, seeing the man unmasked for the first time.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Mr. Eppes himself. How's your brother doing?" inquired Cato, saving Charlie the need to exchange pleasantries. Are you even supposed to say Hello to the man who shot your brother?
"He's fine, no thanks to you," replied Charlie.
"Don't say that. I could have shot both of you before I left, made a clean getaway. Hell, I'm a good shot, I could have killed your brother instantly. Count your blessings," advised Cato. "So, what are you doing here? I would've thought you'd be watching the rest of the Pink Panther series with your brother at home, I hear the new one isn't half-bad," Cato stood up and walked towards Charlie, separated only by metal bars, looking immaculate in a suit. Dressed as he was, without a ski mask and gloves, you wouldn't have thought him to be a criminal by looking at him. But then again, that probably was the mark of a successful criminal. "Or are you here to make sure I get locked away for a long, long time?"
"I'm not staying for the sentencing. Don's got plenty of friends in the DA's office, so I'm not worried. I'm here because there were some things that were bothering me and you're the one who can address them," stated Charlie matter-of-factly.
"Is that so?" asked Cato, curiosity lighting up his eyes, "Well, I am at your service," sweeping his arms and adding a bow for effect.
Ignoring the thief's dramatic, Charlie got to the heart of the matter, "Why didn't you shoot us both before you left? We wouldn't have been found till morning, at best, giving you plenty of time to disappear. You've said it yourself, you've killed before, why not us? In fact, you even helped me keep my brother alive until the paramedics could come."
"What can I say? Peter Sellers made me soft," smirked the thief.
"Don't be an ass. Answer me," demanded Charlie. This man, much like the child paedophile Derek Lamberg had done, ticked Charlie off and made him act a bit out of character. Robbing his house was one thing, but shooting his brother was a whole new territory.
Cato stared at Charlie for a few seconds, recognizing the man who had glared at him and prodded him at a time when Cato held a gun in his hands and had shown he was ready to use it.
"What do you want me to say? My not shooting you was a subconscious desire to quit my evil ways, taking the laptops and cell-phones so that I could easily be caught and hence, pay for my crimes? Send your little profiler friend and we can have a talk. But keep the wrestler away from me, the man is clumsy and his bald friend was getting ideas watching him. The Grinch's heart increased in size that night, the tin-man was granted one by the Green Wizard of Oz etc, etc, etc. Satisfied?"
Charlie simply said nothing, choosing to instead keep on staring at the man. It was a trick he had learnt off Don and his team, after hanging around them so much. And like a charm, it worked.
"Fine. I saw a picture of you two with your dad. I've seen my dad lose a son, what it did to him, I wasn't in the mood to do that to some other father that night," confessed Cato, moving to the opposite wall and leaning against it, putting distance between him and Charlie. "How does that grab you?"
Before Charlie could respond, he was interrupted by the guard coming to him and saying, "Sir, it's almost time for the sentencing. You need to leave." Charlie nodded and after one last look at the man who had almost made one of his nightmares a reality, he turned on his heels and began to walk away. Before he reached the door, however, Charlie stopped in his tracks at the sound of someone whistling the Pink Panther theme from behind him. Shaking his head, Charlie thought, pompous ass, and left the building.
HALFOFBADCOMPANYISFREE
"I don't think I want to even see another lemon meringue pie for the rest of my life," said Don, warily eyeing said dessert, kindly placed in front of him on the dinner table.
"Come on bro, I'm only giving you what you want, and if I remember correctly, this is what you were craving," chided Charlie.
"Yeah, well, now I crave a beer, go get me that," replied Don, pushing the dessert towards his brother who happily welcomed it with open arms and a ready fork.
"No beer, Donnie, stick with the pie," commented Alan, "Now I'm going to do the washing up and then call it a night. Don't you and your brother get into trouble." While it had been a nasty shock, the phone call from Charlie from the hospital and his tale about all that had happened, Alan was slowly but surely putting it behind him. It had helped that he hadn't seen the house as anything other than spic and span, having stayed at Don's apartment until Megan gave him the green light. If it wasn't for Don being in hospital, Alan wouldn't have thought anything unpleasant had occurred. It amused Alan to think Don had been plotting to blame his hospital stay on his appendix. It might have worked had it not been for the fact that either son was incapable of lying to their father and the blood transfusions that Don had received. He had only arrived in the final act; it was up to Don and Charlie to help each other work through the preceding acts.
Don and Charlie engaged in small talk as they sat at the dinner table, Charlie making his way through a slice of the pie, their father in the kitchen. Soon after Alan had gone upstairs, Charlie pushed aside his empty plate, stood up and asked his brother, "So, what do you want to do? Are you tired?"
"Nah, the night is young, help me up, you want to watch a movie?" asked Don cautiously, lifting his hand so his brother could help him get up, the stitches in his side making it an awkward task to accomplish with much pain without any help.
To Charlie's credit, only a slight frown crossed his features and it was gone in the blink of an eye. He helped his brother up and then replied, "Sure. You pick the movie while I get the popcorn."
When Charlie returned with a bowl of popcorn, he found his brother sitting on one side of the sofa, the cover of a DVD in his hands, reading the back. Sitting down next to him, Charlie asked, "So which baseball movie are we watching this time?"
Don looked up and said, "I was thinking we finish what we started," and help up the cover of A Shot In The Dark, the Pink Panther movie that had been very rudely interrupted by Cato.
"Um, how about we pick another one? I've kinda gotten enough Pink Panther to last me for the next couple of decades," began Charlie delicately, moving past the lump in his throat.
"Charlie," said Don
"Don," said Charlie right back, both not taking their eyes off each other, waiting for the other to break first.
"Why did you go visit Miller today?" asked Don, and any hint of pride Charlie might have felt for out-staring his brother vanished at the question.
"What makes you think I went to see him?" asked Charlie, delaying the inevitable.
"I'm psychic and also, the animal kingdom came to tell me in the form of birds and insects," said Don dryly. "I'm Dr. Dolittle and Samuel Kraft all wrapped in one. Answer the question."
"I didn't understand why he acted the way he did, he pretty much let himself get caught. I needed to know why," said Charlie simply.
"Do you know now?" asked Don.
"I'm not entirely sure," mused Charlie, thinking back to all that the thief had said.
Don looked at Charlie for a few more seconds, and then said, "Alright," letting it go. However, he still fiddled with the DVD case in his hands. Charlie knew something was bothering his brother but rushing him had never worked in the past:
"What's bothering you?"
"Nothing's bothering me, Charlie,"
"Something seems to be bothering you,"
"Well, nothing's bothering me."
For the second time that day, Charlie's patience paid off when Don started speaking.
"You know, Miller could have shot you before he left and there would have been nothing I would have been able to do about it," Don commented, keeping his eyes fixed on the object in his hands.
At Don's words, Charlie sighed and asked, "So, that's what has been bothering you lately? That you weren't able to protect me? Don, what do you think you were doing before you got shot? I had to stand on my toes to actually see the guy and you wouldn't move even though the man with the shiny gun asked you to. Stop feeling guilty about this," Knowing Don probably wanted a way out of the conversation, he added "You're guilty of putting itching power in my clothes when I was 12, yes, but not this," finished Charlie with conviction.
Don smirked at the memory, "Yeah, well, serves you right. I had told you to stay out of my room,"
Both brothers sat in silence for a while, Don clearly mulling things over. And then, lifting his head and poking the his brother in the chest with the DVD case, he said
"Hurry up and get it started, would you? I want to see how the movie ends."
Khatum (The End)
Roll Credits
Well, there you have it. 7 nights, 7 chapters. Now I can go crazy with my D, and considering the title I've decided on, many others will be thinking me crazy too.
Thanks to all those who review, you are amazing. Hope you liked the end, I wanted it to come full circle.
FanRush is acting wonky right now, so I guess I'll be posting this over there when the internet deities allow me.
Cato, I've gotten fond off. In my head, he's a bit differet, but I had to mess him up a bit for the sake of the story, had to make him get caught easily etc etc. If I were him I would have shot them both and ran (What, if I'm a killer, no curly haired geniuses and hot FBI agents would have made me pick them over jail). Cato, you are now laid to rest.
Had fun this week. See you around :)