Title: Disturbing images.

Series: The Connections Series, Part 1/?

Characters: Charlie, Colby, Don, Megan, David, Larry, mention of Amita

Rating: PG

Warnings: This series goes from PG to NC-17, depending on the chapter. Sometimes it doesn't happen gradually, so you are warned. About this chapter, you don't have to cover your eyes if you are very shy.

Spoilers: Season 3 and 4

Summary: Amita is kidnapped and there are very little clues about where or how she might be.

Disclaimer: I do not own Numb3rs or anything related to it. It's just me having fun writing about other people's characters.

The connections Series

Part 1: "Disturbing images"

It was one the worst cases the team could have. For everyone, given the circumstances.

It had been three days since Amita was missing. Everybody was working so hard to find her, and it was so useless. Charlie tried with all the equations he could write in the blackboard and in his head, but nothing seemed to be good enough to end the case with a safe victim.

And the fact that she was his girlfriend, the first woman he had been with in years, was heart breaking. He wasn't feeling ok, there were long pauses in his speech when he tried to make a point. This night it was worse: he kept babbling about math theories that had nothing to do with finding Amita, and he knew it. He just hoped something in all that mess of ideas was hiding something he could put to good use.

Of course, everybody was looking at him. At some moment he stopped talking, noticing that his friends had a very concern look in their eyes. Don was the one who got up and put a hand on his shoulder in representation of the rest.

"Charlie, why don't you take a break? You have been working too hard"

"Well, I should be working harder, don't you think? I can't seem to find anything in my head to help Amita!", Charlie, shouted, and suddenly got out the room, dropping the pen he was using to write in a transparent blackboard.

No one followed him. But they saw him enter the break room.

"This must be so hard for him. And the worst part is that there are so little clues", Megan said, taking off her glasses and walking around the room.

"Yeah. We're frustrated we can't find the woman, I can't imagine what it must be like for him to trust the math but not be able to do anything with it", David murmured.

Larry had been quiet during all of Charlie's speech. Now he was very focused on his own fingers, curling with each other.

"What do you have in mind, Larry?", Megan asked, because she knew him so well she was sure he had an idea. Usually Larry's ideas were as good as Charlie's.

"I was just… I have no brilliant ideas right at the moment. My head is turning into an confusing cloud very close to the one that formed in the beginning of our solar system. I'm thinking this state of mind is exactly the same that is making Charles embrace such a primal behavior, like the one we just saw." He made a pause. "Maybe he needs to talk about what he's feeling with someone. I don't have any kind of effect on him right now. I tried to unlock his thoughts with quantum theory, but I didn't seem to work"

Everyone thought that is was ok that Larry was trying to help Charlie to think better, but it didn't seem to be the best idea to do it by talking about physics. At least not in this kind of case.

"Don, may I suggest that you be the one to speak with him?", Larry continued, looking at Charlie's older brother.

"I already tried, like you did. I mean, of course I didn't make any efforts to help him find his way through theories like yours, but yeah, I talked to him. At first, he didn't say anything to me. And when I ended with my 'everything's going to be ok, buddy'- which by the way I didn't believe myself-, he started to yell at me that I should be patronizing him", Don answered.

"He believes all the weight is on his shoulders. That we all, and of course Amita's life, is depending on him", Megan said.

"Well, he has a good point. We have our weapons, our experience in different fields. But let's admit it, much of what we do well is because of his math", David pointed.

"It is probable that Charles is feeling that the only solution to this problem relays on his own capability", Larry said, still playing with his own fingers while he read the equations written in the blackboard. "There is no doubt it is an absurd. But when your mind is blind because of a deep pain -which I have experimented myself when Megan was kidnapped- there are several obvious truths that your brain is able to deny without any question"

"Someone's got to talk to him anyway". Colby had spoken for the first time in several minutes. All the time the others were speaking, he was watching Charlie in the break room sitting at the table with his hands in his face.

"Yeah, I think so too. Megan, why don't you…?", Don started to say, but Megan herself interrupted him with other idea.

"I know I could go and have a talk with him, since I have experience reading other people's feelings and everything, but I don't think it's what he needs right now. To be honest, I am pretty sure that if Colby would be the one to enter that room and start to speak about how he doesn't have to be under so much pressure, he would feel more relieved"

So the decision was taken. No one had to insist Colby to take the lead in this occasion. The agent, without taking his eyes off Charlie, took the pen that laid in one of the desks, got up and went to the break room.

"I would be very happy if I could be left alone for a few minutes, please", Charlie said, but he never took his hand off his face, so he couldn't see who was standing by the door.

"Not even me?". Colby's voice made him wake up. His face tensed a little, but he didn't try to avoid the agent.

"Oh… I didn't know it was you. I'm… sorry", Charlie said, and Colby thought that if he was apologizing for being rude to him, it meant that Megan was right: he was the perfect person to talk to him. It had been a very good idea; after all, he was the one who could make him react in one of the last cases, involving a very important reporter.

"Hey… I know you don't feel comfortable discussing your work in this case, but… I just wanted to say in behalf of everyone that we support everything you're doing", Colby said, and he took a breath. He wanted to say something to comfort his friend. "I can't possibly know what you're feeling. And I can't tell you that everything's going to be ok. I'm not Don, and you know it. Do you remember the talk we had after someone followed you in the middle of the night?" He saw Charlie nod quietly. "Well, this is another truth I want to show you. She's an intelligent woman. And she loves you. I'm sure she's trying to do everything she can to come back to you."

There was this sorrow in Charlie's eyes that made Colby tremble. It was like if the mathematician was going to brake at any second, and was just holding up because he didn't want everyone to see him like this. But this was Colby. Colby, the agent that had become a closer friend after that horrible night when a someone had shot him without success.

"I can't stop having nightmares. About people doing terrible things to her. There are a lot of disturbing images inside my head that I can't forget… but what you said is so true. Yeah… she's probably doing that. Trying to get out of all this mess", Charlie managed to say. "Thank you" He made a pause. "Thank you, Colby. I can't tell your how much this has helped me. I don't know if I could come up with a solution involving my math immediately, but…"

"Hey, don't worry about it. Your heart needs time to recover, to calm down so your mind can take control again."

"But what will happen until my brain starts functioning again? What if it takes endless hours?

"Well, you have us to replace you during that time. We are going to do everything that is in our hands. You don't have to do it all, even if Amita's your girlfriend. You are part of this team too, never forget it."

He put a hand in Charlie's shoulder again, and saw him smile just a little. That's all Colby needed: to see he could help someone else, to bring a little hope to his friend's heart.

"Maybe I could get to work again. Just random equations. See if something makes sense and can be applied to the kidnap", Charlie suggested.

"Of course." Colby said, and showed he still had the pen that the mathematician had been using in his hand. He pass it to Charlie, their fingers brushing lightly in that beautiful gesture. "Just don't put too much pressure on you, ok?"

"Sure… I'll try not to"

"Do you think you will be ok?"

"Yeah"

"Well, if you need to talk again about this kind of stuff… here I am."

"I know. Thank you"

Charlie saw Colby get back with the others and tell them that he was going to be all right. And when he looked at the pen in his hands, still warm because of the agent's skin, he knew that he couldn't get this kind of understanding anywhere else.

A/N: This is a series that I came up with this morning. I don't know how many chapters I will post, or how often, it depends on the responses I get. Comments and critics are equally welcome, as long as you don't throw stones at me. Now, seriously, I really hope you enjoy it, because I am a big fan of Numb3rs. Please forgive my English if it's not too good. Just for the record, I'm from Latin America.