Baseball Don and Baby-Doll

Warnings: Some wanking on Don's part. And a couple of guys being rude,

sexists pigs.

Chapter Two: A Tradition is Started. In which Charlie recruits Don

for support, and Don finds out that not all maths functions are boring.

Also, Don is very protective.

-BD-

Special Agent Don Eppes was bored. He’d just finished a case, just filed the

last of the paperwork. There was still an hour before he could leave, and he

was desperately trying to speed up the clock through sheer will-power. It

didn’t seem to be working.

His cell phone went off then, and he grabbed it in delight. Catching a case

this late in the day was better than sitting around bored for the next hour.

“Eppes.”

“Donnie,” Charlie sounded on the verge of tears, and Don sat up straight.

“What’s wrong?”

“Don, I need a huge favour.”

“Anything,” he answered without hesitation. He’d do anything to keep Charlie

from crying.

“You might regret that in a moment.” She already sounded a little better.

“I’m meant to give a speech and present an award at a special dinner

tonight. Larry was going to accompany me, but Dr Adler railroaded him into

attending meetings all evening!” Dr Adler was the head of the physics

department at CalSci – and didn’t get along with Charlie at all. “And Dad’s

got his book club meeting here, I can’t ask him to cancel it.”

“Wait, let me get this straight,” Don interrupted. “You want me to go with

you to something math related?”

“Please, Donnie!” Charlie was sounding desperate again. “I can’t go by

myself, you don’t know what it’s like to be a female alone at one of these

things!”

“What do you mean?” Don asked, confused.

“I mean, the men who aren’t condescending asses will be trying to grope me.

I can’t face that by myself!” For a moment, Don saw red, and knew that

Charlie heard him growl.

“Donnie?”

“I’m bringing my cuffs and gun,” he stated firmly. “Anyone touches you, they

get hauled off for assault.”

Charlie laughed then, and Don smiled. That was more like it.

“Okay Don. Make sure you’re out on time, I’ll catch a cab to your office.”

“Come on up to the bullpen, you can keep us company until we can leave.”

“Will do. See you soon – and thanks.”

“No problem, Baby-doll.”

As he hung up, Don caught the interested looks from David and Terry. They’d

heard his side of the conversation, but were still confused.

“Charlie,” he explained. “She’s giving a speech at a dinner thing tonight.”

“And she called you because…” David still looked confused.

“I’m going with her. For… immoral support.” He grinned at his subordinates,

who both laughed.

“Shouldn’t you change then?” Terry asked. “If it’s a fancy thing, I doubt

jeans and shirt are the acceptable attire.”

“Got nothing else,” Don shrugged. “If it’s that bad I’ll stop at home to

change.”

-BD-

Half an hour later, Charlie stepped into the bullpen. Don knew this, because

he saw David’s jaw drop. He turned, and immediately bit his lip to stifle a

groan. The vision wasn’t anything like Charlie’s usual hap-hazard

appearance. Tonight, she was definitely Charlotte.

She wore a floor-length black gown which hugged her figure and left her

shoulders bare. At her neck was a simple silver chain with a tear-shaped

pendant, and a delicate silver watch graced her wrist. Her hair was half

pulled back into an elaborate knot, while the rest hung loose down her back.

On her face was a bare amount of makeup.

In all, Don could see why she tended to get groped at these things. Hell,

she was attracting a lot of stares here – though a death-glare from him was

enough to send the staring agents scurrying back to work.

“Hey Don,” Charlie smiled as she reached his desk. “Thanks again for doing

this. I can’t stand going to these functions by myself.”

“No problem,” Don managed to keep his voice level. “I got nothing else to do

tonight.”

“Great. Oh, I brought this,” Charlie held out the suit she’d been carrying.

“It’s a formal event.”

“See?” Terry muttered. Don shot her a glare, then accepted the suit.

“Okay. I’ll go change. You wait here. And Terry?”

“Yeah?”

“Anyone tries to hit on her while I’m gone, shoot them.”

“Donnie…” Charlie rolled her eyes in exasperation, while Terry chuckled.

David, on the other hand, quickly turned back to his computer screen. He was

fairly certain that Don wasn’t joking, and that Terry would follow her

orders to the letter.

In the bathroom, Don quickly made sure that he was alone before ducking into

a cubicle and thrusting a hand down his pants. There was no way he could get

through a whole evening with Charlie looking like that unless he took care

of business first.

As he quickly stroked himself, trying to both keep the noise down and bring

his climax quickly, Don’s thoughts flew back to the moment he’d first

realised just how attracted to his sister he really was.

-BD-

Charlie had been fifteen, and Don twenty. Both were back home from college

for the summer, and finding it difficult to know how to act with each other.

They’d already fought several times, mostly over Charlie’s social life and

the fact that she was dating.

For his part, Don was trying to work out why he felt so jealous every time

Charlie mentioned a guy she liked, or who had flirted with her. He knew

enough to realise that it wasn’t just being protective, that there was some

reason why he didn’t want other men touching or even looking at her, he just

wasn’t sure what the reason was.

And then there had been the pool party at the neighbour’s house, the day

before Don was to go back to college.

Don had been in the pool, messing about with his old friends, when Charlie

had climbed over the fence to join the party. She was right in the middle of

puberty, still growing into her curves, but she still turned several heads

clad in the skin-tight one-piece.

In particular, Don found it hard to keep his eyes off of her. He had the

distinct feeling that he was about to understand his reactions to her.

She’d joined them in the pool, laughing and having fun, splashing and

diving, and all the time Don stayed near to her, just in case someone tried

something inappropriate. He was just starting to relax a little, and had

turned to say something to one of his friends, when Charlie jumped on his

back. He could feel her breasts pressing against him, and-

Oh. THAT was what was wrong. Don had gone from soft to rock-hard instantly,

and all from feeling his sister’s body against his.

Don wasn’t entirely sure how he’d managed to make it through the rest of the

party without everyone noticing his newly-realised attraction. Staying in

the pool where no one would notice his erection probably helped, but the

fact that every time he looked at Charlie it renewed itself made the evening

torture.

That night, when he’d managed to escape and go to bed, he’d wanked to the

memory of Charlie pressed against him.

Somehow when it was time to leave, he'd managed to kiss Charlie on the

forehead as usual, and restrained himself from giving her a proper kiss, but

mostly only by repeating to himself that she was fifteen. She was still a

child. That was enough to calm his hormones, even if the fact that they were

siblings wasn't.

-BD-

Remembering that incident, coupled with the image of Charlie all dressed up

like a woman, was enough to bring Don over the edge fairly rapidly. He

gasped for breath as he leaned against the wall for a moment, before quickly

cleaning himself up and getting changed.

Fifteen years on, and Don still hadn’t gotten the courage to tell Charlie

that he wanted her. Hell, for most of that time he’d avoided her like the

plague, probably ruining any chance he might have had with her.

But at least if she was dressing up like that now and then, he’d be getting

some new fantasy material.

Back in the bullpen, Don was relieved to see that no one had noticed

anything unusual about the length of time it took him to change. Terry was

giving him a discreet, admiring gaze, which he did his best to ignore. Sure,

he should probably find a girlfriend to distract him from thoughts of

Charlie, but he respected Terry too much to use her like that.

Instead, he offered his arm to Charlie and smiled at her.

“Shall we?”

“We shall,” Charlie smiled at him, and Don was immediately grateful that

he’d just relieved himself. Otherwise, he probably would have embarrassed

himself just from that.

-BD-

Charlie was quiet on the drive to the hotel, which was unusual. She kept

biting her lower lip, which told Don that she was nervous. He shook his head

and grinned. It was a maths event – how bad could it be? Sure, he’d be

bored, but Charlie would be in her element.

They pulled into the hotel’s parking lot, and into the first available park.

It was only a short walk to the hotel itself, but Charlie was already

uncomfortable by the time they made it through the doors. She hated wearing

high heels.

Once inside, Charlie headed straight for the main conference room. She’d

been here before, and Don just shrugged and followed her lead. It was

obvious that she was apprehensive, but he still couldn’t figure out why.

Surely she’d just been exaggerating on the phone earlier.

Upon entering the conference room, he suddenly had a little more

understanding. Of maybe two hundred, two hundred and fifty people in the

room, he could see about ten other women – and all of them looked bored out

of their skulls. They were obviously not mathematicians. It gave Don pause

for thought – not only was Charlie a genius, not only was she young, but she

was also a woman in an extremely male-dominated field. No wonder she didn’t

want to come to this thing by herself.

Then Charlie broke into a genuine smile, and hurried up to a pair of men who

were apparently in the middle of an argument.

“Max! Arnold! I didn’t think you’d make it!”

“And miss your speech?” The older man smiled as he bent to kiss Charlie’s

cheek, which made a stab of jealousy run through Don. “Never, m’dear. It’s

the highlight of my month.”

“Flirt,” Charlie grinned at him, then turned to Don.

“Don, this is Dr Arnold Myer, and Professor Max Jennings. Gentlemen, this is

my big brother, Special Agent Don Eppes.”

“Of course,” the younger man, Max, spoke. “I remember you talking about your

brother before. I see the family resemblance, especially around the eyes.”

Charlie and Don shared a look. It wasn’t often that someone could tell that

they were related, though he was right about the eyes. Both siblings had

inherited their father’s dark, almost black eyes.

“As luck would have it,” Arnold continued, “you two will be sharing our

table. Perhaps you can even join in our little… discussion.”

Don looked sceptical, but Charlie smiled.

“If it’s the usual, I think Don will be more help than me.” Don turned an

incredulous gaze on his sister, who grinned at him. “They’re baseball

fanatics.”

“Oh, thank God,” Don said, relieved. “Sane people at one of these things!”

Max laughed and slung an arm across his shoulders as he guided them to their

table. The two were already off and running, talking about the finer aspects

of Don’s favourite sport.

The first part of the evening went well. There were a couple of other men at

the table, who both acted as though baseball was below them – so Charlie and

the others ignored them. Don was happy sharing stories from his minor-league

days, and Max and Arnold were keen listeners. Every now and then Charlie

would chime in with statistics or her own observations. She’d gone to a few

of his games in college, even if he hadn’t always been aware of it. Don was

pleased with the way things were going, since talking about baseball was

more likely to keep him from thinking about how sexy Charlie was looking.

At one point, Charlie got up and left the table. Don didn’t take much notice

– until he heard the previously ignored men talking about her.

“Don’t know what Eppes thinks she’s doing here,” a portly, unkempt man

spoke. “Mathematics is no woman’s field. Honestly, she should be married and

popping out kids.”

“Exactly,” the other agreed. He was taller, with a truly awful wig that

didn’t match the colour of his remaining hair. “I’d certainly tap that, if

she wasn’t such a damned know-it-all.”

Don bit down hard on his cheek to clear the red haze threatening to take

over. No one got away with calling Charlie a know-it-all except him. And to

even consider that cretin touching her… Max and Arnold were both glaring at

the speakers, but Don had something better. He pulled his badge out of his

pocket and laid it on the table, making sure the arrogant pigs could see it,

then leaned forward and gave them his best ‘pissed off Federal Agent’ glare.

“One more word,” he ground out through gritted teeth, “and I’ll arrest you

both for harassment.”

The first speaker was gobsmacked that someone would be standing up for Dr

Eppes’ honour, but Don wasn’t finished. He cast his eye over the one who

said he would ‘tap’ Charlie, and snorted derisively.

“And you… you’d never have a chance with her. For one, she’s got a little

too much self-esteem to crawl into bed with someone who thinks that

ridiculous wig’s fooling anyone.”

With that, he turned back to the sporting discussion, which had turned to

the different types of football. Max and Arnold were both trying to contain

their laughter, with only moderate success.

After a moment of shock, the nameless cretins stood and left. Not long

after, Charlie returned, and raised an eyebrow in surprise.

“What happened to Drs Caulfield and Reynolds?” She asked. Don shrugged,

feigning ignorance.

“Guess they didn’t like our topics of conversation.”

Charlie narrowed her eyes, guessing that her big brother had something to do

with the disappearance of two of her least-favourite peers. Don, however,

was the very picture of innocence. She sighed, figuring that she’d just

interrogate Max later.

-BD-

Eventually, the time came to present the awards. Don grew bored very

quickly, and resorted to muttering his own commentary to Charlie. She was

struggling to maintain her composure and pay attention, given the awards

that Don was making up.

“And this not-so-prestigious award for the most waffle talked and waffles

eaten...”

By the time Charlie had to give her speech, she was nearly in tears from

keeping her laughter under control. She was glad to escape her brother’s

comments, but at the same time she was incredibly nervous. Sure, she spent

most of her days speaking to large groups of people, but teaching was

different to giving a speech to her peers. Charlie had always hated giving

speeches.

Don could see that Charlie was nervous as she stood in front of the room, so

he did what any normal big brother would do. As soon as her gaze came to

him, he crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue at her. Immediately

Charlie ducked her head, shoulders shaking, and looked at her notes. Don

knew that she was fighting a total crack-up. When she looked up again, her

mirth-filled smile was radiant – which brought Don’s little problem right

back.

“My esteemed colleagues…”

-BD-

“Hey Don?” Charlie asked as they went back to his car later.

“Yeah?”

“I really hate you.”

“I know,” Don flashed her his genuine, eye-crinkling smile, and she couldn’t

help but grin back. They settled into the car and Don started the engine,

reflecting that the night really wasn’t as bad as he’d thought it would be.

“So,” he asked as he manoeuvred the car out into the street again, “when’s

the next one?”