Title: Edges
Author: newtypeshadow
Rating: PG Warnings: slash (male/male relationship implied)
Notes: This is my first Numb3rs fic, and my small contribution to the terribly small number of Charlie/Ian Edgerton fics out there. May the continuation of the series bring many, many more Edgerton fics. First posted on the livejournal group numb3rs(underscore)slash.

Don trusts Amita because she's safe. She has a smile that's genuinely good, and a heart thatisn't twisted by regularly choosing who lives or dies and taking that decision into her own hands. Amita doesn't know the adrenalin rush of pulling a trigger and watching blood spatter across pavement two hundred yards away, or the addiction of knowing you're more powerful than a suspect and aren't afraid to use that power, even want to use that power to make them suffer. She doesn't have an edge in her voice or an edge in her smile or an edge in her name.

Ian Edgerton has edges everywhere. No part of him is safe for someone like Charlie, who is easily hurt and affected. For all his assistance, Charlie is unfamiliar with the darkest sides of human nature. Don wants to keep it that way.

Charlie needs someone like himself. Someone innocent, like Amita. She can accept his need to know, his desire to understand the whys of life, and his need to escape it every so often. Ian, on the other hand, always has to be in control, always wants to be right, always needs to be chasing something. And while Ian has begun to respect Charlie, Don isn't sure Ian actually understands Charlie. That is, understands him well enough to take care of him without exploiting his innocence, staining it with the edges Don hopes his brother will never feel.

The bottom line is that Amita is good for Charlie. Ian Edgerton is not.

So when Don sees Ian sidle up to his baby brother, coffee in hand and smirk on his lips, when he sees the way Ian casually brushes his thigh against Charlie's hip, he bristles. His fingers tense on the stack of interviews he's sifting through, and he glares a warning that Ian either doesn't notice or refuses to heed. Charlie looks up in the midst of explaining the latest graph he's made for Don and smiles before looking back down. It's his nervous smile, the one he makes when he's not sure he's reading the signs right because they're from people, and people can't be quantified.

But Don knows the look in Ian's eyes. It's the look he has with a gun in his hands and a target in his sights. Ian's the best sniper in the FBI and loves what he does, and Don is afraid that he won't miss this target, because Ian never misses. Ian could break Charlie in half and probably enjoy it, and Don will never forgive himself if Charlie is broken because he wasn't watching.

Charlie finishes his explanation and turns in Don's direction, but a hand on his shoulder stops him. Don doesn't want to think about how much bigger Ian is than Charlie, how helpless Charlie would be if he was alone with Ian, and how much Ian would get off on that power trip. Instead he tries to concentrate on the papers in his hands. He doesn't look at Ian's smug face as he whispers something in Charlie's ear that makes him blush and stutter. He doesn't watch Charlie try to pick up the graph three times after Ian straightens and walks away. He tries to ignore the fear in his heart when Charlie bounces up to him, smile on his face, and says, "Don, can you tell Dad I won't be at dinner tonight? Something—something just came up."