Numb3rs: Defence

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just borrowed them. Numb3rs and its characters are the property of those that created them. No copyright infringement intended. No financial reward gained. All real places and organisations are used in a fictional sense. Original characters and the storyline are mine however.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

-100-1111-1110-

Don didn't remember much of the time between speaking with David at the scene and waking up in a hospital room to find that it was late afternoon. There had been some pain as his wounds were cleaned and patched, some bright lights shone into his eyes and constant interruptions from nurses checking his neurological responses. All that had occurred under a type of haze, blurred in his memory as a series of disjointed slivers.

He stirred, automatically stretching before opening his eyes. His left arm twinged and the bright light stabbed painfully at his eyes for a few moments but other than a slight headache he felt remarkably good. His eyes adjusted quickly and he saw the late afternoon sun streaming in through the window, the beam catching some stray dust motes. There was nothing ever pretty about a hospital room but it was a whole world better than shipping containers and rain slicked concrete. Sighing deeply he stretched again only to jump, jarring his ribs at the sudden start of the figure he'd just noticed in the chair drawn up close to the bed. Getting himself back under control he recognised his father and realised that he too must have been asleep.

"Donny?"

"Hey, Dad."

Alan turned to the chair closest the window. "Charlie, your brother is awake."

The sleepy grunt was somewhat unintelligible but his younger brother shifted then sat bolt upright as he processed the words. "Don!"

"Right here, Buddy."

Charlie squeezed in beside his father, reaching for his brother's hand. "I heard… When I heard the … I thought-"

"Easy, Bro'." Don interrupted. He knew what Charlie was trying to say even if he couldn't bring himself to actually say it. He remembered it had worried him several times during the night. "I'm okay. He missed."

"Missed? The doctor said-"

"Well, alright, not exactly missed." Don amended. "He got me on the arm, nothing serious. It's a graze, just like last time."

"Yeah, well it looked a whole lot worse when they brought you in." Alan put in.

"You were there?"

"They got us here in time to see you in the ER."

"Oh, man." That was the very worst time to see anyone brought to hospital. The patient always looked the worst then; blood not cleaned away and medical monitoring equipment making things look far more serious than they actually were. Not to mention the harsh lighting and antiseptic smells rounding out the whole picture. The mildest injury could look life threatening under those conditions. Granted, his injuries were a little more serious than mild but not that serious. "They shouldn't have done that."

"Of course they should." Alan snapped back. "I needed to see my son, they couldn't stop me."

"It's just," Don started to explain then dropped it. He looked around the private room to find it otherwise empty.

"They had to go back to the office." Charlie supplied. He patted at his pockets before coming up with his cell. "I'd better call them. They wanted to know when you woke up."

"So, Dad," Don started as Charlie moved away. "They tell you when I'm getting out of here?"

Alan shook his head at his son's eagerness. "The doctor thinks you'll be good to go in the morning."

Having already assessed himself he found he had to agree. He was still tired even if he felt far more refreshed than he would have expected so soon. Feeling the urge to stretch again he felt the stiffness in his shoulder and wrists. Lifting his hands he saw the dark bruises from the cuffs, it would be a while before they faded and it was not as though he could easily cover them up. While his hands were up he felt at his head finding bandages and a pad over his left ear. All in all another night in hospital wouldn't be too hard to put up with, provided of course he was out first thing. "Sounds good to me."

Having expected an argument Alan took a moment to find the right word. "Good. You need the rest. Gave us quite a scare there."

An eyebrow quirked up at that. He'd scared himself more than enough last night having lost count how many times he thought he'd been about to die only to put himself straight back into harm's way. He wondered how much they knew.

Alan correctly interpreted the look. "David said he'll let you tell us the whole story. He gave us some updates early on after Charlie had lost contact with you so we knew you were still alive after the shot that Charlie had heard. Having agents turn up at the door though was a bit of a worry."

"They didn't call?" Death messages were always delivered in person with no prior warning. Sending agents to Charlie's house without a call would have left his family with no other logical conclusion.

"It's alright, son. They called. It's just," Alan reassured Don quickly in response to his sudden anger, before he had to stop and clear his throat. "It's just that it could have gone that way and for a moment there I thought the call had been a mistake."

"I'm sorry."

"Not your fault. You're okay and that's all that counts." Alan's mood lightened. "They tell us you saved a few lives last night." He added proudly.

"David said they were alright, have you heard?"

Charlie came back having finished his call. "David and the others will be here later. He said you'd ask and to tell you they are all doing fine. He had a message from someone named Alexis for you. She said to tell you that she isn't old."

"Good." He saw that Charlie's head was tilted to one side in a clear question at the meaning of the cryptic message but he didn't elaborate. He could rest a little easier now, Alexis was definitely okay. Alexis clearly understood what he'd been doing but she would get some mileage out of it nonetheless. The thought brought even more relief, it could have been so much different.

Charlie perched on the side of the bed and made himself comfortable. He waved at the television mounted on a swing arm in the corner of the room. It was on to an all day news channel with the volume turned down. "There's been some wild stuff on the TV."

Thoughts of the media and how the attack on the building would have been reported hadn't even crossed his mind. They would be having a field day with this one; it wasn't every day that an FBI office was targeted in such a violent manner. The fact that this was the second time the LA office had been so attacked would attract even more attention.

"It was a wild night."

"So," Charlie encouraged.

Finding the bed control Don raised the top half, he needed to sit up if he wasn't going to fall back asleep before he'd explained some of what had happened. He stared at the beginning, sanitising some points as he went and skimming others, and generally not going into too much detail as he knew it would upset his father. Charlie had become somewhat inured to his work and would be able to take it reasonably well, so to some extent had their father over recent years but not as much. He didn't need to know everything. What he left out Charlie would probably see in the file at some point anyway, sure that his team would find some reason to call his brother in.

It was late when the visitor he'd been hoping for finally arrived, his team had just left. He breathed out her name through the sudden unexpected emotion that surfaced at sight of her. "Alexis."

As the older woman entered the room Alan sensed the change in Don's mood and grabbed at Charlie's arm. He'd recognised the name from his son's story and had a flash of insight as to what his son needed most.

"Uh, Donny?" Alan started as she came closer towards the bed after a polite smile in his direction. "You mind if we get some coffee?"

"Thanks, Dad." Don said gratefully. The sharp stab of guilt he'd felt at seeing Alexis had prompted his father's move and he appreciated the privacy being offered.

Alexis waited as Agent Eppes' family left. She'd seen the strange look that had crossed the injured agent's face and wondered at it. "How are you doing?"

"I'm sorry."

Alexis moved forward and took a seat on the edge of the bed, carefully reaching out a hand and resting it over his unencumbered one. "Agent, what do you have to be sorry for?"

The caring face looked at him in genuine puzzlement and he found himself turning away as he explained. "I let them, no I made them point a gun at you. I abandoned you on the roof."

"You did no such thing." Alexis retorted, her voice firm. "You were only doing your job. You couldn't let them into the armoury and you saved my life on the roof. I heard what he said, going with them was likely to get you killed but you still did it, insisting on it. I won't hear of you being sorry for anything that you did." Now she turned away, her voice dropping. "I should apologise to you. I let them into Control."

It was a valid point, it had led to his downfall after providing the intruders with the upper hand. Unable to help it he turned back, curious at why she'd done that. Seeing his look Alexis explained before he could ask. As he listened he understood why she'd broken the seal, she was trying to save Simon, much as he'd been trying to save him on the third floor. Neither of them had expected the tech to have been in on the raid.

He told her that. "You couldn't have known. I didn't put it together in time to warn you."

"You had other things on your mind, Agent Eppes. You can't blame yourself for that."

True, he had been a bit busy. He managed a smile. "I guess."

Alexis smiled back. "So, no apologies. Except maybe for calling me old."

"I-" He started to protest before seeing the glint in her eye that showed she completely understood the reason for the description. She was only having a dig. His smile warmed.

She patted his hand and stood, returning the rare smile that she so loved. "I have to go, they told me I couldn't keep you up for too long."

That reminded him, he'd been very rude. "Are you alright? Did Damian hurt you?"

"Damian? Oh, him. No. I'm okay." After a gentle squeeze of his hand she released him and started for the door. She stopped before heading out, turning back in an echo of the roof. "I'm proud of you, Don."

Touched, he was speechless as she left. He stared after her for a few minutes, snapping out of it when his family returned. The one regret that had been plaguing him since he'd woken was gone, he'd been forgiven.

-10011-10101-1110-100-1-11001-

By nine o'clock the next morning he was walking into the Field Office, trailed by a very unhappy Alan and his less upset younger brother. Charlie wanted to be here, to see for himself what had happened. Don knew that wouldn't be happening any time soon, the affected areas restricted, but neither of them had been willing to let him go back to the office without him.

Pleased not to have to use the stairs this time they rode up to his floor in the elevator. They were met by David and the rest of the team who immediately made a fuss of him; bringing him coffee and making him take his seat at his desk. They'd seen him the night before and had received their own brief account of the story from his perspective and he theirs, but that didn't stop them now. Finally he had to call a halt to it being there for a reason after which he was going home to Charlie's. Everyone else may be been recalled to work after the incident but he still had some well deserved rest days ahead of him.

"David, are they ready for me?"

"They're waiting in Wright's office. He wanted to see you first."

Alan and Charlie both knew exactly why he was here but still looked on with disapproval as he left with David to see the ADIC.

Wright immediately stood when they entered the office. He extended his hand. "Agent Eppes, that was some exceptional work. Glad you made it out alive."

Taking the offered hand he shook the firm grip a little embarrassed by the praise. "Just doing my job, sir."

"No, this went well beyond that. We owe you a great debt of gratitude for saving the lives of our people and ensuring that the data didn't fall into the wrong hands."

"Thank-you, sir." He had just one burning question; he'd almost died for it after all. "What was the data?"

"Blackmail material."

"Say what?"

"That's right. They did all this, killed the guard and everything else so they could get their hands on the files we have on various people around town. Rich and famous people." Wright clarified. Eppes nodded, they both knew Los Angeles had more than its fair share of rich people with secrets they needed kept hidden. "It seemed that Prentice had noticed the files from time to time and succumbed to temptation."

"Prentice?" The name didn't ring any bells.

"Simon Prentice. He was a senior computer analyst." Wright used the more formal title for the computer tech.

"So it was all his idea, not Kurt's?" He'd been updated on the intruder's condition. Kurt Neumann had been released from hospital the day before after only a few hours observation and had been in federal custody ever since, being closely questioned.

"That's what Kurt is telling us." He saw the doubtful look on his agent's face. "We believe him. Seems they knew each other from school and have been in touch from time to time since. We've been able to confirm that. Kurt found out that Simon had planned to steal the data and seeing a golden opportunity muscled his way in on the action."

"Unbelievable." Don supposed though, that he really shouldn't be too surprised. While he may have personally thought such data was pretty much worthless he knew there were many others that believed otherwise. He'd dealt with a few blackmail cases over the years and could understand that the amount of data they held on public figures would be attractive. It was a pretty gutsy move by a computer tech to try and steal those files. But then if anyone was going to get away with it he would have been a good candidate. "If Kurt hadn't stepped in we probably would never have known the data was stolen."

Wright nodded, they'd already reached that conclusion after some of their other techs had started analysing the programs Prentice had been using. He said as much then added, "We'd like your brother to help us with that since it looks like Prentice had been using a modified version of one of his programs."

Don had expected the request. "He's down in my office. I can call-"

"Not today." Wright shook his head. "He can start on it tomorrow. This is going to take some time to work through."

"Then the sooner we get started the better." Don stood. He'd seen the people he needed sitting outside the ADIC's office.

"Are you sure you want to do this now?"

"It has to be done, better now while it's all still fresh." He understood that it was that very 'freshness' that was causing Wright to be hesitant over allowing this even though he'd organised what they needed at his insistence. Putting it bluntly he'd killed two men just over twenty-four hours ago and had witnessed the death of two others. He'd been assaulted and threatened and been forced to standby whilst hostages were terrorised. Somewhat surprisingly he wasn't too disturbed by what he'd done; it had simply been what he'd had to do. Nor did he feel particularly affected by what had happened to him. There had been no time to see a shrink, that would be forced on him over the next few weeks whether he wanted it or not, but he was comfortable with his part in what had happened, especially after having cleared the air with Alexis.

"It can wait."

"Those areas can't be cleared until I've done this." Without having even been to those particular areas of the building it was basic knowledge of procedure that told him that. A section of basement, the roof, stairwell, the computer lab on the fourth floor and the entire third floor would all be sealed off as crime scenes. To a lesser extent, purely due to operational requirements, so was Control. Operations in the building generally were going to be seriously affected until all the areas were cleared. Away from the building and of less concern to him was the sport field, the nearby warehouses and the container storage area where the events had played out to their conclusion. It would be good though to get it all out of the way together.

Waiting for him was a team of investigators, forensic experts and cameramen, still and video. There were several levels to what he was about to do, a filmed walk-through of the whole event. The forensic experts were looking at it to confirm where they needed to look for evidence. The investigators needed to know the sequence of events and their number included two other agents whose job it was to look at the agent-involved-shooting component and determine if Don's actions could be classed as a good shoot. He had no concerns there but it was a part of procedure and had to be done. There was even his union rep and their lawyer to ensure no undue pressure was placed on him during the process. It was going to be quite an entourage.

He hadn't even given his statement yet. That could be attended to later, he wanted to get this part done and gone as soon as he could. It was going to take all day but he was prepared for that.

"Okay." Wright also stood to see him out. "They've been briefed, if you need to stop, stop. If they argue, call me."

"Sir."

He was exhausted when he returned to the office late in the afternoon with David. He'd called back several times trying to get his father and Charlie to go home but each time they'd refused, wanting to be there for him as soon as he got back since they couldn't be with him while he did the walk-through. They ushered him into the break room where they'd spent the day and directed him onto one of the couches, a fresh cup of real coffee from the coffee shop down the road pressed into his hand. His team had gathered around and were keen to hear how the day had gone. It didn't take too long but he was distracted by some strange looks being sent his way by one of his team members. It had been happening earlier in the day as well and finally he was unable to let it go on any longer.

"Uh, Colby?" Don started,

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing?"

"Checking out your feet."

"Why?" The word was drawn out as he wondered whether the junior agent had lost something along the way. Marbles, perhaps.

"Well, you had this whole Die Hard thing going on there for a while…"

END

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A/N: All done. Thanks for the reviews and comments; once again they are always appreciated. And, as a special treat for those who thought Don got off a bit lightly in this fic I have a new unrelated one-shot which will go up tomorrow - pure Don!Whump.

For forms sake, a second disclaimer - 'Die Hard' © 1988, belongs to the 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. Any resemblance between that movie and this work of fiction are purely coincidental and weren't actually intended.