Title: Company, Musings, Advice & Future
Series: Silence and Safety *bonus #6- #9*
Author: loozy
Characters: Robin, Amita; mention of Don/ Robin, Charlie/Amita
Rating: PG- 13/ K
Summary: Robin and Amita do not talk a lot.
Word Count: 299; 295; 295; 300;
Spoilers: after 5x23, Angels & Devils
Notes: A spin- off from the toe nails- series, with the women in focus this time... Beta'ed by valeriev84 *send hugs and kisses*
This is the end of Silence & Safety Book One... Book Two will begin shortly... In the meantime, why don't you check out my new series, Ulysses...
Prompt: # 196 Strength; #102 Confession; #183 Rescue; #33 Uncertainty
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.

Company

Robin and Amita do not talk a lot.

They had this one very awkward conversation back when Charlie's clearance had been revoked, but since then, recognising that they do not have that much in common, they only get together when their guys are with them.

After the barbecue, and the toe nail- painting of the guys, Amita beckons Robin over. Surprisingly enough, she needs the other woman's advice.

Was it the right decision to say 'no' to Charlie?

Amita does not have female friends. She actually does not have that many friends, at all. She has Larry and Charlie. Don is a colleague, a buddy, someone she associates with on occasion. Alan is like her uncle. And Don's team are, just like their leader, companions.

Female friends are not something that Amita had ever had, or actually needed.

Until now.

So, she asks Robin, as this is a question that is about the Eppes- men, and while Megan would have been a brilliant source of information, she is currently busy with Larry and Amita is loathe to disturb her. Thus, Robin will have to do.

Not that she does not value the other woman. But she has such a cool exterior that she does not seem approachable at times. And the one time she made an effort, is was very close to disastrous.

Robin disentangles herself from Don, grabs her glass of wine and strolls over to Amita who has taken a seat near the koi pond. No pleasantries or chit chat is needed, Amita decides and just blurts out what lies heavily on her mind.

Charlie asked her to marry him, she said no, and now she does not know what to do.

Robin just gapes at her. Obviously, Charlie had not told Don about the proposal.

Oops.

Musings

Once Robin has recovered her equilibrium *something that she is annoyingly good at*, she asks Amita why she said 'no'.

Such an easy question, such an obvious one.

Only Amita has no idea what to tell the other woman.

Why did she say 'no'? Why?

Charlie has not asked her, he just looked at her like a lost puppy, all pouty expression and drawn- down brows over big pleading eyes. That look nearly broke her resolve, nearly made her change her answer, but then she stood her ground.

It just did not feel right.

That is what she tell Robin, and she nods.

It seemed too rushed, too cliché in a way. They were just past the danger moment, her abduction had ended well, and now they finally had a moment of peace. But she was still troubled, her mind still going over the events of the last couple of weeks actually, which seemed to never end. She was not ready for such a momentous occasion, such a big thing that happened right before her eyes.

It was a sweet gesture, something that she had been hoping for, but not like this.

Not under these circumstances.

She still knows it was the right thing to do, but now she does not know how to handle the fallout. They are still together, they are still in love, they still sleep in the same bed.

But they have not slept together.

They touch, they kiss and cuddle, but they have not had sex since before the abduction. Amita is a woman, a young woman, she has needs, especially when she is lying right next to Charlie.

But what can she do?

So she has to ask Robin who know how to handle the Eppes- men in bed.

Advice

Robin does have advice, but Amita will have to wait and see how her Eppes will respond to what works with his brother.

If there is a riff between Don and Robin, Robin does not, to Amita's surprise, ply him with sex until he relaxes enough so that they can clear the air between them.

Instead she just sits on him. Literally sits on him. Forces him to listen to her. Forces him to talk to her.

That is how Robin deals with Don. No big movements, just one, and that works quite effectively.

Of course, Robin adds with a glint, the sex happens after that. It is not a very unarousing position, and something that both women have found out since their talk months back is that Charlie might have fun working, but he has even more fun having sex.

The two brothers are more alike than they would ever admit, even in the bedroom. But Don's shell is thicker, he is more dense and strong, whereas Charlie is still sensitive and prone to brooding about every tiny detail.

So they will just have to see if the sit- on- method, as Robin calls it, will work. Just explain to Charlie why she said no, and really make him listen because the first time Amita listed her reasons, Charlie had a bit of a glazed- over look on his face. Shock, probably, and Robin agrees.

So he needs to hear it all over again, Amita will have to hurt him all over again, just to understand. She wants to spend the rest of her life with him, she wants the proposal.

Just not like this.

Robin nods, a bit wistfully, which then prompts Amita to ask her about her future with Don.

Robin sighs.

Future

What did Amita mean, Robin later wonders when she is at Don's apartment, waiting for her boyfriend, her partner, sipping tea.

What does Robin actually want? It is not something that she has not thought about before, but being the girlfriend of Don Eppes for the last couple of months has been enough. They have been through enough, they are together now, and she does not want to destroy what they have by being pushy.

Because that is exactly what would happen if she was to approach Don with something important like marriage or an engagement even.

Or at least she thinks so.

Lately, she does not know what he thinks of that issue. She knows he was engaged. She knows that the engagement was dissolved when he moved back to Los Angeles to be with his mother.

So what does he think now about marriage? As much as they talk and share, they have not had this particular matter as a subject.

And all of a sudden, as if Amita's question opened a dam, she wants to know. The desire to be secure in the knowledge that there is a future for them floods her.

Oh, she knows that he is in this for the long haul. She knows that he knows that she reciprocates that feeling.

But all she can now think about now is a possible engagement. A wedding. A marriage. She remembers her wedding book and, even now, she is still keeping it updated when she has nothing else to do and her oldest sister has once again sent her bridal magazines. Out of all four girls she is the only one not married. Her parents have not even met Don yet.

Maybe she should do that one first.

And she already knows the perfect opportunity.