Chapter Text
“Hey, Charlie! Did you see the list of guest lecturers for this semester has come out?”
Charlie’s hand stuttered on her chalkboard as Amita surprised her.
“Amita! Hey. No, I didn’t,” she answered. She looked over her board, trying to pick up her train of thought. She remembered and started writing as quickly as she could.
“The first one is tomorrow and guess who it is,” Amita said. Her tone sounded strange but Charlie didn’t want to interrupt herself to check her friend’s expression.
“Who?” she asked, not actually that interested.
“Dr. Marshall Penfield.”
‘So much for working this morning,’ she thought. She tossed her chalk down on the tray at the bottom of the board in irritation and turned to face Amita. “Penfield? Please be joking.”
“Sorry, Charlie. It’s really him,” she answered with a slight frown.
The lecture schedule changed hands and Charlie frowned too. Sure enough, Penfield would be at CalSci to discuss set theory and the Eppes Convergence.
“Why on earth would he be discussing my convergence theory?” Charlie murmured aloud.
“I was wondering about that too. Should be interesting,” Amita shrugged.
“Interesting? More likely awful,” Charlie grumbled.
She handed the schedule back to her friend and sat on the edge of her desk. If Penfield was going to be discussing her theory, he must have a good reason, and the only way to find out would be to attend.
“Oh come on, I know you don’t like him but he can’t be that bad.” Amita tipped her head to the side and gave Charlie a doubtful look. “I mean, it’s been years since you guys were at Princeton.”
Charlie sighed and twisted her hands together. “I would like to agree with you, but unfortunately, things haven’t gotten better since then. I ran into him over the summer in DC actually. He was just as much of a jerk as usual.”
Amita considered that. “Oh, huh,” she said noncommittally. There was a brief pause before she shrugged. “At least he’s only here for the week?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Charlie agreed.
00000000000
Tony looked up as he heard someone call out a cheerful, “Hey, Charlie!” He smiled as he watched his girlfriend pass the first two sections of desks, greeting people in each group. His smile dropped as she grew nearer though. She was walking a little too fast for this to be a social visit. Something had upset her. As he watched, her hand clenched on the strap of her bag, and she searched until she met his eye.
Raising an eyebrow, he stood to meet her. “Hey, beautiful. This is a welcome surprise.”
She kept walking until she collided with his chest. “Hey, sorry, I suppose I should have called.”
Tony wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. “Don’t worry about it, I just finished something up. What can I do for you?” He met his boss’s eyes over her head and made a tiny shrug. Kang frowned back.
“Lunch?” she asked, looking up at him hopefully.
He glanced at his watch, noticing Kang’s subtle nod as he did. “Sure, that sounds great.”
Charlie stepped back and greeted his team while Tony grabbed his phone and checked to make sure he had everything else he needed. Tony put a hand on her back as they walked to the elevator and Charlie leaned into him, which made him worried. He didn’t mention it then though. He’d wait until she had eaten something first.
—
“So, want to talk about whatever’s upset you?” Tony asked nonchalantly. He sipped at his chocolate milk shake and pushed his remaining french fries at his girlfriend.
Charlie gave him a rueful smile. “I’m obvious, aren’t I?” she asked, sliding the plate of fries closer to herself.
Tony smiled back. “Just a little, but it’s ok. I benefit from it if I’m paying attention. What’s on your mind?”
“You remember that guy we ran into in DC that you called my nemesis? Well, he’s in town and he’s lecturing at CalSci tomorrow evening on my convergence theory,” she reported before dropping her eyes to the plate and grabbing a few fries.
“Ugh, that guy is such a tool,” Tony commiserated. “Why is he talking about your theory?”
“I don’t know!” Charlie exclaimed, and then flushed pink. She lowered her voice before continuing. “I don’t know why he’s talking about it. What if he found something I missed? What if it’s wrong? Penfield loves it when I’m wrong.”
Tony reached across the table to grab Charlie’s hand. “Hey,” he said and waited until she looked at him. “You’re not wrong, and even if you are, you’re still the better mathematician. You’ve at least done something. Does he have a theory with his name on it?”
“Well, no,” Charlie murmured.
Tony dipped his head in a nod. “No, he doesn’t. And you handled him with no problem in DC, right?”
“Yeah, but there was no math there, just being quicker on the insult,” she said, trying to brush it off.
“Which you were because you’re a badass. Remember? I made you ‘note’ it.” He grinned, remembering their time in DC together.
“I remember,” she said, cracking a smile.
Tony gave her hand a squeeze. “So, Penfield is going to be around and he’ll probably be his usual annoying self, but you’re a badass and you’re smarter than him, so you’re not going to worry about it. And I’ll be here to listen to you complain about him as much as I can. Sound good?”
Charlie gave a small laugh and Tony mentally patted himself on the back. “Ok, Tony. Sounds good.”
“Great. What time is the lecture tomorrow?” He took a fry off the plate which caused Charlie to take some too.
“From 5 to 6,” she reported, mouth half full.
He had really hoped he’d be able to go with her to the lecture, just in case Penfield stepped out of line, but he’d be in meetings late tomorrow. Being only two weeks away from his first undercover operation, he had meetings late every day this week coordinating with the Chicago office. “I’m sorry I’ll miss it. I’ll come over right after my meetings are done, ok?”
“Yeah,” she said with a little sigh. “I know. That works.”
He hated seeing her stressed. “And if he’s a jerk, tell him I’ll beat him up.”
Charlie rolled her eyes, but her smile came back. “That’s not how things are done in academia.”
“I don’t know,” Tony said, mock seriously. “My PhD advisor looked like he wanted to punch me a few times.”
“He has my sympathy. You were probably a nightmare to advise,” Charlie grinned.
Tony made a dramatic gasp. “What? Don’t be ridiculous. I’m never a problem.”
—
Charlie was feeling a lot better after lunch with Tony. She was confident in her afternoon class, and handled office hours without issue. She picked back up the work Amita had interrupted that morning and was just getting into a groove when Amita appeared again.
“Hey, Charlie,” she greeted, and claimed the couch, spreading out her books and laptop.
“Hi, ‘mita,” Charlie replied somewhat absently.
Amita made a small huff, but Charlie didn’t ask about it. She had just thought of something else to work on. Stepping away from her chalkboard, she made a reminder in her notebook to look into that some other time.
“Eppesie!” came a falsely cheerful greeting from her doorway.
“Marshall,” Charlie greeted politely, though she wanted to groan. She turned as Penfield entered her office, looking around with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.
“It’s good to see you, Charlie,” he said and smiled pleasantly. “Oh, and who is this lovely woman?”
He didn’t wait for Charlie to answer, but strode across the room and held out his hand to Amita.
“Hi, I’m Dr. Marshall Penfield.”
“Dr. Amita Ramanujan,” she replied with a pleased smile.
Charlie resisted rolling her eyes. “Amita’s doctorate is in mathematics with an emphasis in physics,” she shared to make herself a part of the conversation.
“Ahh, no doubt Dr. Fleinhardt has had some influence on you,” Penfield joked.
“He has a strange kind of gravity of his own,” Amita agreed.
Penfield laughed and Charlie really did roll her eyes. “That he does,” he agreed. Finally looking away from Amita, he raised a challenging eyebrow at Charlie. “So, Eppesie, are you coming to my lecture tomorrow?”
He wandered through the office toward the door, picking things up and looking at them before returning them to where he found them.
“Wouldn’t miss it,” she said with a bland smile.
“Great!” He stopped in the doorway and looked at Amita. “There’s a group of us going out tonight, you’re both welcome to join in the fun.”
“Sounds great,” said Amita enthusiastically.
Charlie tried not to let the hurt show on her face. “I can’t make it tonight. Have fun though.”
Penfield flashed another smirk at her. “Oh, we will.”
He turned and left and Charlie took a couple deep breaths.
“He seems nice,” Amita said lightly.
Charlie turned back to her chalkboard and snatched the chalk from the tray. “He hasn’t spent the last 15 years trying to ruin you,” she grumbled.
“Not everything is about you, Charlie,” Amita snapped.
Irritated, Charlie threw the chalk back down and spun to face her friend. “I never said it was!”
Amita stood and crossed her arms. “You’re acting like it is! Look at you, you’re clearly mad that I said I would go tonight. I saw it on you as soon as he invited me.”
“Because he’s a jerk!” Charlie took a step closer and shook her head. “I think you can do better than Marshall Penfield.”
“You don’t get to dictate who I hang out with,” Amita said quietly. She stooped to shove everything into her backpack quickly and then headed for the door.
“I’m not trying to,” Charlie said, just as quietly.
“See you later,” Amita said shortly as she hurried out the door.
“Bye,” Charlie replied, but she was already gone.
00000000000
I’m done working. Where are you?
Tony sent the message, snapped his phone shut, and shoved it in his pocket, making his way to the elevators. He was anxious to get home tonight. Well, not necessarily to his house, home was wherever Charlie was at the moment. He didn’t feel like guessing and risking getting it wrong though, not after she was so upset at lunch, and not with so little time left before he was leaving.
His phone beeped and he checked it immediately.
Your house
‘Good,’ he thought. There shouldn’t be anyone there to bother them.
Getting home seemed to take twice as long as usual. He was impatient and he knew it, but each day seemed more precious than the last. He knew his undercover assignment shouldn’t be more than two months, three at the most, but the thought of leaving Charlie in two weeks kept reminding him of when she left DC. They knew it was coming then too.
Tony parked the mustang and strode into his house. Charlie had remembered to lock the door after herself this time, something Tony had been trying to get her to do since he moved in. Today it just seemed annoying.
She wasn’t on the main floor at all, and he wondered for a moment if she had left, but her car was parked outside, so that wasn’t likely.
“Charlie?” he called.
“Up here,” she called back.
‘Working,’ Tony thought and headed straight up.
She was working. She was frowning at a whiteboard as though it had personally offended her, and Tony thought there just might be something else going on.
“Hey, gorgeous. I’m happy you’re here,” he greeted, pulling her in close.
Charlie wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. “Hey, handsome. I’m glad you’re here too. You were by far the highlight of my day.”
“You saw Penfield, didn’t you?” Tony guessed.
“I didn’t just see him. He waltzed into my office, called me ‘Eppesie’ like we were 14 and 17 again, and invited Amita out tonight,” Charlie grumbled, burying her face in his chest.
There was no way Tony wasn’t going to hate this guy more each time he heard about him. “So you told him I was going to punch him?”
Charlie glanced up with a small smile. “No, Tony. I did not tell him you were going to punch him.”
Tony put on an exaggerated pout. “But Charlie,” he whined, “he’s so annoying.”
“He really is,” she agreed, her smile growing a little before it dropped. “Amita said yes.”
“What?” Tony asked, honestly surprised.
Charlie nodded a little into his chest. “Yeah, she went out with him tonight.”
There was a pause as he took that in. Surely there was some kind of girl code that said you don’t go out with your best friend’s arch nemesis, right?
“Has she had a recent head injury?” he asked, just to say something.
Glancing up again, Charlie gave him a wry grin. “Not that I know of, no.”
“Then I have no idea what she’s thinking,” Tony admitted.
Charlie’s grin faded away and hurt replaced it. “She said not everything was about me and that I don’t get to dictate who she hangs out with. I wasn’t trying to do either of those. I just think Penfield is a jerk.”
“Whoa, ok. Obviously she has some feelings going on,” Tony quipped. He wondered what her problem was. This was unusual for Amita who was typically more grounded and steady than Charlie or Larry. “I’m sorry, Charlie. I’m sure that was hurtful.”
Charlie nodded, and they stood in their embrace in silence for a long moment. “I know it’s really selfish and petty, but I hope she has a terrible time.”
Tony chuckled. “I think it’s pretty normal to feel like that, actually. Well, we can’t do anything about it tonight. Can I interest you in a late supper?”
Charlie agreed, which made Tony relax a little. He wasn’t sure when making sure Charlie ate became such a priority in his life, but she forgot or skipped meals just often enough to make him worry about it.
Tony led her downstairs, keeping conversation light, and made them a quick dinner. They watched a movie afterward, appreciating the time they could spend together. Charlie stayed over that night, wanting to spend as much time with him as she could.
00000000000
Charlie only saw Amita in passing on Tuesday. She still tried to be kind, waving and saying hi to Amita in the hallway, but Amita just gave her a weak smile in return. As much as Charlie was dreading Penfield’s lecture, the morning seemed to fly by.
Don stopped by during the afternoon and asked for help on a case. Charlie wanted to say yes, but there was no way she would be able to focus. For the first time since she started helping her brother, she told him no. At least, not that day. Maybe not the next either.
He didn’t take it well. He grumbled about counting on her as he walked to the door.
“You think Amita could do it?” he asked suddenly, and Charlie looked down at her lecture notes, trying not to feel betrayed. He didn’t know she was in a disagreement with Amita right now. Though he might have if he had asked why she couldn’t help him today. She would have told him about Penfield and Amita and the lecture.
“Yeah, probably,” Charlie said quietly.
“Alright, I’ll check with her,” Don said, already halfway out the door.
“Bye, Don,” Charlie murmured to the empty room.
She pretended it didn’t bother her when she saw them leaving together as she walked to her next class.
—
The afternoon passed as quickly as the morning had, and before she was ready for it, she was making her way to the lecture hall. She put on her best polite smile and sat alone near the back of the audience to listen. Amita slipped in just before Penfield began and hesitated on the stairs before sitting with some other CalSci math graduate students and recent graduates. Charlie couldn’t help being reminded of high school, and had to work not to laugh at the situation she found herself in.
Then Penfield began his lecture, and Charlie was entirely focused on the math. His set theory work was actually really good. She would have liked to be able to discuss it with him. He was so defensive and snarky though they would never make it through an actual conversation.
And then, after he had concluded with set theory, he started in on the Eppes Convergence, and Charlie tensed in her seat. She didn’t lose her polite smile, and she acted like everything was fine, but the more smug he got, the more worried she became. Eventually, after explaining the general concept, he pointed out an until-now-undiscovered flaw in her theory. One which made the rest of it meaningless. Her theory was wrong.
She could feel the polite smile fading from her face, and did her best to keep it at least neutral. Amita had glanced back at her a few times, looking concerned, but Charlie didn’t want to deal with her on top of this.
Penfield concluded his lecture and people started to leave. Charlie waited for a minute so it didn’t seem like she was running away. Penfield used that to his advantage, striding up the staircase to meet her as she stood.
“No hard feelings, Dr. Eppes. It’s not personal,” he said with a smug smile.
She thought about Tony’s threat to punch him and wished he could be here. “Of course not. I’ll be looking into what you’ve presented,” she said politely.
“Of course,” Penfield echoed. He gave her a grin and headed back down to the speaking platform where a few people were waiting to speak with him.
Charlie turned and took the stairs quickly up, wanting nothing more than to be at home.
“Charlie!” Amita’s voice called after her.
She didn’t slow. She didn’t want to talk to Amita just then.
“Hey, Charlie!” Amita called again, and Charlie could hear her footsteps jogging up the stairs after her. Amita closed the distance and fell in with Charlie as she headed for the parking lot.
“Hi, Amita,” Charlie greeted politely. She had been feeling very polite recently, but not very good.
“I’m sorry,” Amita blurted as they rounded a corner and pushed through the doors onto the sidewalk.
“For what? Going out? I have no say in who you go out with. There’s no need to apologize,” Charlie said coolly. She didn’t look over at the other mathematician, but focused on getting to her car. Having her own car and driver’s license did make escaping unwanted social situations easier, she thought.
Amita stiffened next to her, but kept in step. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“You’re welcome to spend time with whomever you wish. I need to go though, so I’ll see you around.” Her voice had moved from cool to dismissive.
“I’d like to talk to you about it,” Amita tried again, sighing a little.
“I need to think!” Charlie snapped.
Amita stopped in her tracks and Charlie kept walking.
“Ok, Charlie. See you soon,” she said quietly.
Charlie jerked her head in a nod, but didn’t slow. She had to get out of there. She really needed to think.