love equations -- charlie eppes x reader - numb3rs

ch ;; 10

it had been about a week since charlie, don, and ciara had hung out outside of work. she and charlie were fine to be together in a work environment, but as soon as work ended, they had split ways again. don and terry were constantly trying to find ways to force the two of them to talk to each other more and more often, hoping they'd talk through what had happened. don had told terry and david about ciara and charlie's kiss, and the two of them also agreed that they'd be perfect for each other.

it was three against two, technically. and the three were determined to get the two back on friend speaking terms. maybe even a couple. i mean, they kissed! it is not hard to tell there is something there.

''what could they do with it?'' don asked houser. ''worst case scenario? dirty bomb.'' he said grimly.

~~~~~~~''~~~~~~~

ciara had hesitantly agreed to go with larry, though she wasn't sure why he needed her. that was, until they walked up to the garage of charlie's house. groaning, ciara walked in with larry, keeping her head down. larry and charlie were quick to get to work, while ciara hauled out her laptop and got to work on her case files.

''...which happens to be precisely the range i predicted.'' charlie said, proud of himself. ''charles, i am indebted to you.'' larry said, placing his hands together, almost like he was praying. ''wait. whoah... whoah, whoah, hо, hо. whoa! hо!'' charlie quickly paused, looking like he was shocked at something. ciara glanced over at the two men, seeing what they were doing. ''what?'' larry asked, concerned about his work.

''t-t-t-t-t-t...'' charlie stuttered out, something that he did as a thinking or a 'this isn't right' noise. ''don't say "t-t-t-t-t-t.".'' larry begged.  ''oh, hold on, hold... hold on!'' charlie called out, frrowing his eyebrows together. ciara raised her eyebrow, turning herself to completely face the two men. charlie quickly looked over at her, smiling slightly and quickly winking, his own way of saying that he was joking around with the man in front of him. ciara rolled her eyes, smiling lightly.

''why are you saying "hold on", charles? what is wrong?!'' larry raised his voice slightly. ''what the hell was I thinking? 'cause...'' charlie's hand went through his hair, causing larry to freak even further. ''what is it?!'' charlie stared blankly at the chalk board. ''this- this entire line is- is, uh, unfounded. it's- it's unusable.'' he said, looking at larry wide-eyed. ''tell me you're joking here, charles. don't do this to me.'' larry said, frantically smacking charlie's shoulders.

''i am. i'm kidding around.'' charlie said, finally breaking character and smiling at larry, putting his arms up in defense. ''why are you doing this to me?'' larry asked, rolling his eyes and moving over to walk to ciara. ''well, because...''  ''do you not know how important this presentation is?'' larry asked, picking up his stuff. ''it's fine.'' charlie laughed.  ''our last opportunity for peer review before atlanta and you do "t-t-t-t-t." don't do that.'' larry lectured. ''i'm sorry.'' charlie apologized.

''no, stop say...'' larry started, charlie quickly cut him off. ''you know, you fall for that every time at this point.'' charlie said, looking at the older man. ''then why do you keep doing it?!'' suddenly, don walked into the room.

''excuse me for barging in here,'' he started, ''i gotta talk to you two.'' he said, pointing to ciara and charlie. ''all right, well, i'll let you...'' larry stood up to leave before don stopped him. ''actually, you being a physicist, i wouldn't mind if you stuck around. what can either of you tell me about cesium-137?'' don asked once larry sat down.