after getting the okay from the nurse at the infirmary, charlie and ciara had headed off to find don. sinclair, however, is the one they bumped into first. ''ciara! glad to see you're walking on your own again. good news and bad news, what one do you want first?'' david asked, rushing a little bit.
''uhh, the good news?'' she requested, obviously confused. charlie glanced between the two of them before silently excusing himself to go find his older brother. ''don caught the bank robbers last night, and now they're arrested, waiting for their court date.'' he smiled, proud of his co worker. ''thats great! i felt really bad after yesterday, interfering with the case..'' ciara trailed off.
''agent matthews, you know yours, and the whole teams, well being is going to be more important to don than the case will be.'' david joked lightly. ''you know what, you're right, you're right.'' she patted his shoulder lightly, about to walk away, before she turned on her heel. ''the bad news?''
sinclair's smile dropped. 'there's another case. illnesses are being recorded all throughout the country. no one knows what, or who, is causing it, nor where it started.'' he briefed. ciara scoffed lightly, rolling her eyes before replying. ''how many cases recorded so far?''
terry walked in, inviting herself into their conversation. ''we've got about 30 suspected cases in the L.A. area, with 6 deaths so far. it's not anthrax, it's not smallpox. probably a pathogen, but we haven't ruled out toxins. cdc's doing autopsies now, but until we can get something definitive, we're keeping the infected under quarantine.'' she ranted. ciara nodded, taking in all the information she just recieved.
''we'll need to do a vector analysis, to predict the spread of the illness, and to keep track of the time and space between the people getting sick.'' ciara commanded, walking to find don, her original plan.
she finally found don, though charlie was no where to be seen. don, however, seemed to be in an argument with one of the other people working on this case. ''the levels of this case requires precise mathematical conclusions, we hired someone to come help with them.'' the man explained.
''actually, we work with a top math consultant, i'll call him on the case.'' don said, obviously referencing his brother. ''agent eppes, you know this is classified as a national security level, i'd love to have him on, but-- oh, here he is now.''
the doctor turned towards the man walking up to the three of us, a man i recognized all too well. ''this is professor charles eppes, he will be doing the vector analysis.'' charlie looks between don and i.
''don, ciara..'' he started nervously. ''charlie.'' ciara said shortly. ''i didn't think you two would be working this case..'' he admits sheepishly don turns back to the man that he was previously arguing. '' i don't get it, you said we needed someone with top clearance?'' he accused. ''dr eppes has clearance.''
''he does? you do?'' don turns frantically between his brother and the one in front of him. ''is there a problem?'' charlie asked don, slightly shifting his weight to the other foot. ''you just- never told me.'' don said lightly. ''i wasn't supposed to..'' charlie whispered.
''no, charlie is my brother, and- and he's the consultant I was just telling you about. I didn't realize...'' don started explaining himself before sinclair popped his head in. ''here's the mother of the dead boy, her symptoms are starting as well.''
''~~''~~''~~''
''this could just be, like, food poisoning? doesn't show up at breakfast, can kill you by lunch.'' ciara excused, looking around the room. ''listen, the public service health's job is to figure out what we're dealing with, the fbi's is who. and the key to both is where, right?'' don called out to the whole team.
charlie jumped up, grabbing a whiteboard marker off my desk. i raise an eyebrow at him as he walked up to the whiteboard. ''say you put four people in a room with one infected person. two of those four get the illness, and you put those five people in a room with more people, when you get to a room of 100 people, however many get exposed and affected, it will be hard to track down that first infected person. it takes a complex statistical graph and analysis theory. not everyone who gets exposed gets sick, but we don't know why.'' charlie explained, drawing out on the whiteboard .
after a few more moments of charlie demonstrating... whatever it was he was doing, he erases off the whole board. ''we don't have the pattern yet, but i'm hoping that as more people get sick we can get one. not that- that i hope more people get sick.''
''we know that, charlie. it sounds like what you're saying is that you need more data.'' ciara says, looking at the man. ''exactly, thank you.'' he smiled slightly at the girl. ''charlie, if i can give you the stats i have right now, would you be able to piece me a graph together with them?'' ciara asked, looking around for her papers. charlie nodded, walking towards her. ''i can have them ready for tomorrow.'' he said, knowing that they'd probably be needed for then, anyway.
''after tomorrow, when i get more data as well, could you help me put it in then, too? don and i are going out again, interrogating the families.'' ciara requested, feeling slightly bad for making charlie do all this, though, she knew that this was childs play for him. he nodded his agreement once again. she smiled, thanking him, and patting his arm.
~~''~~''~~
later that day, when ciara and don were off doing their interogations, charlie was at home, working on ciara's graphs.
''hey,'' alan walked in, ''what'cha workin' on?'' he asked, pointing to the table. ''something for someone at work, well, fbi.'' charlie explained shortly, pushing his pen into the graph paper ciara had supplied. ''ah, okay. a he or she?'' alan asked, smirking. ''huh?'' charlie raised his head, looking at his father.
''your friend, male or female?'' alan pushed. ''does it matter?'' charlie questioned, slightly annoyed with his fathers antics. ''no, no, just-- thinking that maybe-'' charlie cuts him off, sighing. ''dad, whenever i have a girlfriend, i will let you know, by uhh, note on the fridge.'' charlie suggested.
~''~~''~
''this geographic information system will allow us to map victims and potential disease clusters with ciara's real-time data. they're all over the L.A. area, from long beach to santa barbara. now, in computing the reproductive ratio... actually, you know what? I've written it out.'' charlie quickly hauls up the big paper with his whole speech written onto it. his phone rings and he walks out of the room.
suddenly, don's phone rung as well. ''terry?'' he stood up, pacing. after maybe 3 minutes, don hung up the phone. ''they've closed down the union station, cover story being given out is asbestos was found in the walls. the station fits the profile of a place to release a virus for maximum dispersal.''
''which is what you told charlie.'' sinclair spoke up. ''exactly!'' ciara scoffed, looking over at the taller man. ''it made no impression, you were speaking terrorism, he was speaking math.'' ciara joked. ''hey!'' don shouted defensively.
charlie walked back into the room, taking a deep breath. ''spanish flu. In 1918 it was a global epidemic. It's extremely virulent, extremely deadly. the spanish flu killed a disproportionate number of healthy adults. It left towns half empty.'' he said, gritting his teeth. ''well, what'd they do back then? how'd they stop it?'' don asked.
''they couldn't, there was no cure.'' ciara spoke up. charlie pointed to her, ''exactly. there isn't a cure. they just waited until the virus burned out.'' charlie added. after a few more moments of discussion, charlie sat down by ciara, turning to look at her.
''hey, the virus may have been created in a lab. four bio labs are working with strains of spanish flu. one of them is here in LA. the doctor supervising the research is Clarence Weaver.'' he said to her. she quickly turned around to face the computer at her desk, fully aware of charlie's face hovering over her shoulder.
''clarence weaver..'' she typed into the keyboard. ''scientist, yeah we kinda got that..'' she states. ''uhhhh aha!'' leaning her head back a bit, she turned to look at charlie, smiling. he also turned his head, resulting in their face being no more than 4 inches apart. i mean, she could feel the taller man's breath. ''if we can find him, we can stop him.'' she explained. charlie nods, seeming to be zoned out a little bit, just staring at the girl.
~~''~~''~~
''look, i just want to take a look upstairs if that's alright.'' ciara tried reasoning with the older man, stepping forwards. he shoved his arms out in front of her, forcing her to jump back. ''no! it's not, actually! and i'm not doing anything, so i don't get why you're so suspicious?''
after getting information out of weaver, the three left his house. charlie groaned, walking away from the other two. ''charlie? you okay?'' ciara asked, worriedly looking at the man. now, if any, is a good time to worry about the wellbeing of everyone around her. he sharply turned towards her, making her jump back where she was walking closer.
''every minute that goes by...'' he trails off. don joins in the conversation, ''we know, we know, people are getting sick out there. we're doing what we can. we're dealing.'' charlie looked at don for a second before continuing his worried rambles. ''fathers, mothers, their children... how do you forgive yourself if you're wrong?'' he questioned, looking between his older brother and his partner. ''you don't. we can't be wrong.'' ciara answered
~~''~~''~~''~~
''the virus was at union station, but that's not where it started. the source point is the downtown main bus terminal. the cdc and the public health service are sure about union station. they say it's a logical place for someone to release the virus. if they don't understand the motivation behind the release, then how can they say it's a logical place to release it?'' charlie bursts into ciara's office, talking a 100 miles a second, startling her.
''jesus charlie! have you heard about knocking?!'' she shouted at him, before responding to what he said. ''so, if they released it at the bus station, that would explain why it's going south and north.'' ciara reasoned, more so with herself than charlie. he nodded frantically, causing his hair to puff up a bit, causing ciara to laugh slightly.
''people to the north are getting sicker than people to the south. 80% of the deaths link to the north pattern. but that doesn't make sense. how can the people to the north be more vulnerable to the same virus? well, what if it isn't the same virus? what if there's two different viruses?'' charlie theorizes, walking further into the office.
''charlie, slow down, you're talking too fast.'' ciara said, grasping her head.
'~~''~~'
three days later, three torturous days of theories and interrogating, don, charlie, and ciara ended up on weaver's front step again. don came out, weaver cuffed, charlie holding his travel bag. ''what's in that, charlie?'' ciara asked, scrunching up her face. weaver shouted, ''those are for the victims. I was about to light a candle for each one. did you think I was planning to release the virus again?''
charlie gave the bag to ciara with a small nod. she quickly hauled gloves on before gently prodding through the bag. ''candles.'' she confirmed. ''either way, mr weaver, you're under arrest.''
''~~~~~~~''
charlie had invited don and ciara back to the house. alan was still home, but he made it very clear when he seen ciara, to charlie specifically, that he was going to be going out with a friend. charlie rolled his eyes, walking further into the house.
they all sat down around the tv in the living room, the tv turned down, just as background noise. ''i can't believe you didn't tell me you were consulting for the NSA..'' don said shocked. ''it was nothing like this, y'know?'' charlie tried to comfort his brother. ''i hope not, charlie.''
''you know, I mean, a lot of stuff comes across my desk -- daily briefings. chances are, I probably already knew about your assignment. It was, um... it was more of a consulting gig. and it wasn't really all that sensitive. we have troops stationed all over the globe, right?'' he asked don. ''all right, stop, stop , stop. charlie look, don't let me play you like that. you made an agreement not to talk. you're right, you shouldn't. I'm sorry, forget it. It's over. I won't ask.'' don said, slightly laughing at his little brother.
''ciara, you look like there's something on your mind, what's up?'' don asked, changing the topic over to her. ''oh! uh, not a lot, really, just, fascinated..'' she trailed off, staring at charlie. ''with, with what?'' he asked worriedly.
''how your brain works. like, it's amazing how well you're able to put everything together and track down the exact people we need.'' she rambled to him, smiling. ''honestly, like, taking you into the force was probably one of the things we all needed. it saves so much time, and besides, it's math, and you're amazing at that.'' she gushed.
charlie laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck, his face flushed a little bit from all the praise. ''thank you, really. i just- i'm glad that i can help out, you know?'' charlie said, offering a grin.
''alright you three, i'm leaving! have fun, but not too much fun, i can not afford another noise complaint from one of you having your girlfriend over!'' alan shouted. ciara snorted, her hand going up to her mouth in shock, keeping herself from laughing.
''DAD!'' charlie groaned.