Posted to numb3rs_fic


Title: My Best Friend's Girlfriend
Pairing/Characters: Megan/Larry, Colby, Don, Charlie
Rating: PG13
Spoilers: Rampage, Longshot, Killer Chat
Summary: Megan stays loyal to Larry while he's away
Notes/Warnings: Read the disclaimer on my LJ


"So," the agent from New Orleans drawled, trying out his best southern charm on Megan. "What does a beautiful woman such as yourself do for amusement in the evenings?"

"Colby, did the phone records come in yet?" Megan called out to Colby as he rushed past.

"Not yet!" he called back without stopping.

Megan sighed and turned to the visiting agent, putting on a polite smile for the sake of interoffice politics.

"Agent Colton..."

"Tim."

"Tim," Megan repeated. "Can the New Orleans office reinterview the victims' wives for me? I have a list of questions they didn't ask during the initial interviews."

"Why certainly." Tim smiled widely, showing his teeth. "But you haven't answered my question."

Megan turned to sit down at her desk and rapidly typed up an email. "I'm sending you the list of questions to ask. If you can forward it on, that would be great." She paused for a moment then added reluctantly, "I have a telescope. I like to spend my evenings looking through it."

"That sounds like a very solitary pursuit," Tim said, frowning. He pulled out his Blackberry and gave it a minute's attention. "Email forwarded."

"What can I say?" Megan tossed out as she stepped over to Don's desk for a file. "I'm a simple girl."

"Well, perhaps you'd permit me to take you out for a simple meal then."

Megan smiled uncomfortably. "Thanks, but I'm involved with someone who's working far away for the next few months and I don't think it's appropriate for me to go out to dinner with other men while he's gone."

"Involved isn't married or engaged. Surely dinner isn't a cardinal sin. Besides..." Tim puffed himself up a little. "What kind of man would leave a woman all alone to go to work?"

Megan chortled. "An astronaut."

Tim rolled his eyes. "Very amusing."

"I'm serious," Megan said, dropping a stack of files on David's desk. "He's up there right now in the International Space Station. Check any newspaper. Dr. Lawrence Fleinhardt. He's an astrophysicist and cosmologist."

"Lawrence Fleinhardt? That doesn't sound like the name of an astronaut!"

"Oh, and Buzz Aldrin does?" Megan retorted, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice.

"Hey Megan, phone records in yet?" Don asked as he strode up to his desk.

"Not yet," Megan replied.

"Agent Eppes..."

"Agent Colton," Don replied without looking up from his messages.

"The lovely Agent Reeves here is trying to convince me she has a paramour in space."

"Our boy Larry, yeah."

Tim's eyes widened in surprise. "So he does exist?"

Don looked up, forehead creased in confusion. "Why would you think he didn't?" He turned to Megan and easily read her veiled look of annoyance. "Listen Colton, who Megan is seeing has no bearing on our joint investigation and if you're going to call one of my agents lovely you'd better be ready to call all of them that and I'm not sure that'll go over well with Granger, you get my drift?"

Tim bit his lip petulantly yet when Don looked to him for a response he merely smiled. "Absolutely."

"Good. Glad to see we understand each other." He turned back to Megan as he headed out. "Call my cell if the phone records show anything."

"Will do."

Megan turned back to her computer, but Tim hovered over her, leaning against the edge of her cubicle. He checked his Blackberry again and smiled at her. "Two teams of agents are headed out with your list of questions to do the reinterviews."

"That's great. Keep me posted."

"So..." Tim continued, oblivious to Megan's attempts at giving him the cold shoulder. "I still don't see why you wouldn't be allowed to have dinner. I mean if he's off in space for all that time a girl's got to eat, right? It's not right to ask a beautiful woman to sit home alone for months on end. That's very selfish of him."

"Megan!"

"Charlie! Hey, have you got some findings for us?"

"I might soon. I told David I needed to see the maps from New Orleans and Phoenix. Once I extrapolate the data I need from them I should have results."

"That would be great," Tim said, nodding his approval. "Say, Dr. Eppes, Megan here says she's not allowed to go out to dinner. Can you believe that?"

Charlie looked surprised. "Not allowed? By whom? My brother's a pretty decent boss, so I can't see him stopping his team members from taking a dinner break."

"Oh, it's her supposed boyfriend out in space who doesn't want her having any fun while he's gone. I'm trying to convince her how selfish that is and that she should come out to dinner with me tonight."

Charlie's expression hardened. "If you are speaking about Dr. Larry Fleinhardt I'll have you know that he's not only a respected scientist, not only a kind man who would never put his own needs above Megan's, he's also my best friend, so I'd be very careful what you say about him in this office. Larry's done consulting work for the FBI on many occasions and is well liked here by everyone on Don's team. So you see..." Charlie stepped in closer and lowered his voice, adding just a hint of a threat to it. "If you're hassling my best friend's girlfriend while he's away, you're going to find that I am – along with my brother Don and the rest of the team – going to take exception to that."

Tim took a step back, looking chastened and embarrassed, and pulled out his Blackberry. "I've got a call. I have to take this..."

As he scurried away Megan let out a relieved chuckle. "Man, I thought I'd never get rid of him."

Charlie smiled and laid a hand on Megan's shoulder. "If he bothers you again let Don or I know, okay?"

"He's harmless," Megan said, shrugging. "Just annoying. If he gets really bad I'll have to demonstrate some of my Krav Maga moves on him," she joked.

Charlie laughed for a moment then pulled up a chair and sat close to Megan. "You have a window tonight, don't you?" he asked quietly.

She nodded. "Between 7PM and 8PM. I can't wait."

"I'm glad to hear it," Charlie said. He looked down at his hands in his lap for a moment. "I don't have one until next month and it's hard to be patient."

Megan smiled wistfully. "Yeah, it is."

+

Despite having a prearranged communication window, Megan still waited on hold for the better part of an hour, pacing nervously back and forth past her speaker phone.

"I'm sorry Agent Reeves, but the uplink still isn't available."

"I'll keep holding."

She walked over to her telescope and looked through the viewer then out her window into the night sky overhead.

"Agent Reeves?"

"Yes!"

"We have your uplink. Please hold for Dr. Lawrence Fleinhardt."

Megan stood at the window fidgeting impatiently.

"Dr. Fleinhardt is on the line. Go ahead Agent Reeves."

Megan rushed over to the phone and snatched up the receiver, holding it close to her ear.

"Larry? It's Megan..."

A wide smile blossomed on her face as she gazed towards the heavens.

"I miss you too..."

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