Title: There is always a first Time for Everything
Universe: Odyssey

Author: loozy
Characters: Don, Eppes- family; mention of others
Rating: PG- 13/ K
Summary: When he is a child, Don Eppes does not get beaten up a lot.
Word Count: 904

Spoilers: none
Notes: Since I could not come up with something for this month's challenge on hurt_don, this is something I write in its stead... Beta'ed, as always, by the wonderful valeriev84…
Prompt: # 229 Break
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned in this fic. Numb3rs and everybody associated with it belong to Cheryl Heuton & Nick Fallucci and CBS.
Feedback: Yes, please. I love every kind of review, even the bad ones, as long as they are helpful and constructive.

There is always a first Time for Everything…

When he is a child, Don Eppes does not get beaten up a lot.

Sure, there is the occasional tussle on the playground or at school, but as a general rule he is too easygoing to be an annoyance to anyone.

Until that one day.

One day, Don Eppes goes to school, he is thirteen- years- old, and he gets beaten up by Jimmy Simmons, the school- bully.

It is a short and vicious attack and Don will never go through the gates of his middle school quite that carelessly ever again. No- one intervenes, no- one ever does with Jimmy, and in the end, Don is left lying on the ground just outside the school grounds, his jaw broken in two places, his right arm bent at an odd angle, and all he can think through the haze of pain is that he will not be able to play baseball for the coming months.

Those who are afraid of Jimmy laugh at him and Don wants to retaliate, wants to get his revenge, only Dad told him to never raise a hand unless he absolutely had to, and he knows that if he starts anything now, it will be pointless.

The damage is done.

Then a teacher comes over, aghast at the little boy leaning against the wall, cradling his arm, his jaw askew on his face, not crying. Most children would wail and scream, but not so Don Eppes, big brother of Charlie Eppes who will probably soon join his brother in high school the speed he is advancing at through his school classes.

The teacher has known Don Eppes since he first came into her kindergarten- group, hiding behind his mother's legs. She has known him since he liked to be called Donnie more than Don.

Now he is Donnie no- more, he is in middle school, he plays baseball- and does it well- and he is a peaceful little guy.

The teacher does not ask him what happened, he would not be able to answer anyways, just directs one of the older boys in the crowd that has formed around them to go run to the headmaster's office and call for an ambulance. They can always find out who did it later, and besides, she has a pretty good idea who.

Jimmy Simmons has no reason to hold a grudge against Don Eppes, but Simmon's little brother was recently upstaged by Charlie Eppes during class, so this was probably revenge.

Why Simmons figured he would get into less trouble for beating up Don than Charlie, she does not know, and never will, since the older boy does not answer that question.

Charlie is amongst the children gathered, standing as close to Don as he dares, big tears rolling down his round face, his cheeks red with agitation. He wipes his tears and nose on his sleeve compulsively every couple of sniffles. He catches Don's eyes which have been focused onto the teacher's, and slowly moves closer.

Like his brother, he does no say a word, which is very unusual for him, just sits down and pats Don's uninjured arm clumsily and then whimpers his brother's name softly.

Don does not respond, just continues staring at Charlie and then slowly moves his hand to capture Charlie's, and the younger boy grips it tightly and then falls silent again.

The secretary does not only ring an ambulance but also Don's mother because just when the

ambulance arrives, so does Margaret Eppes and for the first time since Charlie Eppes started at the school, she does not pay him any attention but focuses straight on Don who is by now being treated by fast- moving EMTs, still not crying even though the touching and moving of his arm must hurt a lot.

Charlie is hard to tear away from both Don and his mother, and it takes a lot of convincing from Margaret that Don will be okay, but that Charlie has to let go of him first.

When they are about to load Don into the ambulance, they face a dilemma: Only one person can ride in the ambulance with him and Charlie will not let go of his mother. They cannot ride together with Don but as soon as Margaret moves to pry Charlie's hands lose from her coat, he starts wailing.

The other children have been ushered into their classrooms by now and the teacher is glad that they are not seeing this. Charlie Eppes is a source of enough teasing already, this would just egg the others on, and without Don Eppes' subtly protective looming, he will be easy pickings.

It is Don who decides, speaking up for the first time. He tells his mother to go with Charlie in the car, he can make the trip alone.

Margaret sets to protest but the teacher intervenes.

She will go with Don in the ambulance and they will meet at the hospital.

Margaret, reluctantly, agrees and she closely follows the ambulance the whole way to the hospital.

In the ambulance, Don has tears running down his face, his facial muscles contorting into a grimace of pain, the broken jaw not helping the movement when he makes to heave a sob.

By the time he gets loaded out of the ambulance and his mother and brother can see him again, only faint tear tracks drying on his cheeks betray his pain.