Title: A Little Help From My Friends
Rating: R for violence
Words: 8x200
Prompts: #72 Holster, #183 Rescue, #181 Demands, #165 Victim, #173 Bone, #132 Witness, #174 Blood, #150 Prayer
Characters: Colby, OFC Lori Granger, FBI team
Spoilers: 5.11 Arrow Of Time
Summary: The events of Turn The Other Cheek from the POV of the rest of Colby’s team. Please read that first, else this one won't make much sense.
Disclaimer: If I owned Numb3rs, Amita would have taken the Harvard job...





Holster

David snatches his phone up on the first ring, grateful for the chance to get away from his 302s.

“Sinclair.”

“David...” Colby’s voice, weak and hoarse, sounds like he’s underwater, and David sits up, concerned. “...Hurt... my place.... help... Mexico.”

“Colby? Colby, what’s happening, man?” David asks. “Granger, answer me, dammit! Colby!”

Silence, then a crash before the line goes dead. David dials Colby’s number, cursing when it goes to voicemail.

“What’s up, David?” Don asked, walking around to his desk.

“Colby just called. I think he’s in trouble, he used our distress word before the call got cut off.”

Don nods, going from relaxed to alert in an instant. “Go check it out. Take Nikki with you, Granger might need backup.”

“Got it, boss,” Nikki says, already strapping on her holsters, as David grabs his own things, ignoring the sick feeling in his gut. It’s probably just a prank, he tells himself. 

They hit the lights on the way to Casa Granger. It’s a violation of policy, technically, but the feeling of dread still clawing at David tells him they can’t afford to waste even a second.

They’re almost at Colby’s building when a scream cuts through the night.


Rescue

David blinks when the door swings open, sharing a concerned look with Nikki. Unlocked doors are never a good thing in their line of work. They enter silently, Nikki on point, David covering her. The foyer is clear, and David allows the tight knot of fear in his stomach to ease a little bit.

They walk into the hall, and David freezes at the sight before him, too stunned to move. Colby is curled in a ball on the floor, blood dribbling from his mouth. He slowly raises himself on one knee, only for Lori to hit him, the crack of her hand against his cheek spurring David and Nikki into action.

Nikki flies at Lori Granger while David rushes to help Colby. His injuries are much worse than David first thought- he’s been stabbed, the blood already soaking his shirt, and David runs to the kitchen for the med kit.

He tapes the bandage down on three sides, leaving the fourth open so Colby doesn’t drown in his own blood. Next to him, Nikki’s grappling with Lori, but he pays them no mind, too busy trying to keep his best friend from bleeding out on his living room floor. 


Demands

“David?” Colby’s eyes flutter half-open, even that one simple word costing him dearly.

“Easy, big guy, I’ve got you. Stay with me, buddy.” This is David’s worst nightmare all over again, his partner dying in his arms despite everything David does to save him.

“Hurts...”

“I know it does, Colby, but you gotta fight it, OK? Stay with me, man.”

“So... sorry,” Colby murmurs, eyes fluttering shut again, and David’s heart clenches.

“Don’t you die on me, Granger! You don’t get to go, not yet. Dammit, Colby, fight!” he snaps out, slapping Colby’s cheek even as he keeps the pressure on. “Shit! Nikki, call 911, we’re losing him!”

David barely hears Nikki as she talks to the operator, too focused on keeping Colby in the land of the living.

It feels like forever before the paramedics burst in and shove David away so they can work. He looks up at Nikki, an entire conversation in a single glance. She’ll stay behind with Lori Granger; he’ll go with Colby to the hospital, so there’ll be a friendly face waiting for him when he wakes up.

Left unsaid is the very real possibility that he might not wake up at all.


Victim

The cops arrive a little after the paramedics leave, Nikki heaving a sigh of relief when she spots the lead pair- Lt. Walker and Officer Felton. Good, solid men, ones she’s worked with before.

“Agent Betancourt,” Walker says in response to her nod. “We got a DV call here, and since it involves one of you Feds I decided to tag along. Gotta admit, I didn’t think Granger was the kind of guy who’d lay a hand on a woman.”

“He’s not,” Nikki says through clenched teeth. “Agent Granger is the victim here. The perp is his wife, Lori. She assaulted him several times before stabbing him with a knife. He’s on the way to Gardena in critical condition.” Nikki takes a moment of grim satisfaction in the shocked look on Walker’s face before continuing, “Lori’s cuffed and waiting for you in the kitchen. You want to be careful of that one, she’s got more venom in her than a barrel full of rattlesnakes.”

Nikki waits until LAPD is done taking her statement before turning to her former boss. “Will that be all, Lt. Walker?” He nods. “Good. If you’ll excuse me, I have an injured agent to go see.”


Bone

“What’s happening, man? How is he?” Don asks, striding into the waiting room, Nikki and Liz at his heels.

“They’ve got him in surgery, they won’t know until he’s out of the operating room.” David tells them. “It’s bad, guys. A punctured lung, three cracked ribs, damage to his kidney, a mild concussion plus multiple lacerations on his face and chest. The docs are worried on account of the blood loss alone, never mind anything else.”

Liz shakes her head, looking nauseous. “And Colby just sat there and let her do this to him?”

“Liz, think about it. Colby treats Lori like she’s made of spun glass, no way would he raise a hand to her, even in self-defense. Plus you’ve done the psych 101 class at Quantico, you know how these things work. She’s probably messed with his mind, made him think that he deserved it.”

Liz’s eyes harden. “No one deserves to be hit.”

“You and I know that, but does Colby?” Don asks.

“If he doesn’t, we’ll just have to convince him otherwise when he makes it out of this.”

David looks at the closed door, expression bleak. “If he makes it out of this.”


Witness

LAPD comes by eventually, to take David’s statement. He tells them what had happened from the time Colby’s call came through until he’d been wheeled into emergency surgery calmly and concisely, no trace of emotion leaking through.

“I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out, Lieutenant,” he says. “Colby’d come to work with these big-ass bruises, and when I asked, he’d laugh ‘em off, say a gentleman never tells.” David rubs his hand against his eyes. “How could I have been so damn stupid?”

“David, come on, you can’t blame yourself. Colby’s never been the kind of guy who’s asked for help,” Don says. “You couldn’t have known.”

“He’s my best friend, Don. I should have known.”

“Can’t change the past, Sinclair,” Lt. Walker says, tone surprisingly gentle. “What matters is you got him help when he needed it. All we can do now is make sure the bitch that did this doesn’t get away with it.”

Don looks at the OR, where some of the best doctors in LA have been working for hours to undo the damage Lori Granger inflicted on Colby.

“Gary? Forget the book. I want the damn library of Congress thrown at that woman.”


Blood

The wail of the Code Blue alarm wakes the team from their fitful dozes on hard plastic.

Something’s gone wrong, the doctor tells them. An injury they hadn’t noticed until now has worsened, and Colby’s losing more blood by the minute. David immediately offers to donate, the rest following.

He, Don, Nikki and Liz would gladly give their lives for Colby; a cruel twist of fate and genetics prevents them from giving him so much as a pint of blood.

Don puts out the call, hoping it’s not too late. Minutes might make the difference between life and death for his agent.

Colby is well-liked by everyone who knows him, and within the hour there’s a line of agents from the Bureau, DEA, LAPD, even a couple of old Army buddies. Through it all, his team sits outside in the lobby, unable to do anything but wait and hope.

It takes five excruciating hours before the doctor emerges again to let them know that their desperate scramble for donors worked. Colby’s finally stabilized and on the road to recovery. It’s early days yet, the doctor tells his team, but he has every confidence that Agent Granger will survive.


Prayer

Don sends up a quick prayer of thanks before grabbing his phone. He calls home, knowing Charlie is waiting anxiously for news. Then he dials a number he’s only called once before, to tell his agent’s family that Colby has once again managed to look death in the eye and survive.

*****

Nikki just nods and asks Dr. Ahmed when they can see him. He might say Colby’s going to be fine, but Nikki’s not going to be able to get over the sight of him lying bruised and bloody, barely alive, not until she sees he’s OK with her own eyes.

*****

Liz sits down, startled at the force of the relief that slams through her, and cracks a joke about hurrying to see Granger before it’s time for his beauty sleep. And if she’s shaking with emotion, her voice cracking slightly when she says Colby’s name, nobody calls her on it. 

*****

David smiles at the doctor, his relief too strong for words. Later, he’ll have time for questions, for self-loathing, for wondering how he let things come to this. For now, he just lets relief and joy course through him, grateful his best friend is still alive to ask forgiveness.