numb3rsflashfic | There's A Traitor Here (Beneath My Breast) by dollydani (Challenge #25: Feynman Quotes) (Reply)

Title: There's A Traitor Here (Beneath My Breast)
Character: Don
Rating: G
Word Count: 362
Spoilers: 2x04 The Mole, 2x05 Traffic
Summary: How Don really feels about what Colby did.
Notes: I think the thing that bothered me the most about Traffic was the lack of continuity with The Mole. So what did I do about it? I created my own continuity. *g* Inspiration for this fic came from

delgaserasca’s Don and Megan wallpaper here.
Quote used: ‘The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool.’

There's A Traitor Here (Beneath My Breast)

"What's going on with you?" Megan had asked.

There was a lot going on with him. In the week since Colby's 'betrayal,' Don hadn't been able to get the look on Colby's face when Don had accused him of throwing the case out of his mind. That devastated look that had tugged at Don's hardened heart just as much as Charlie's best kicked-puppy look. But Colby wasn't Charlie. He wasn't Don's little brother and he sure as hell hadn't needed coddling.

It was more than just that, though. He knew he couldn't understand the bond that had existed between Colby and Dwayne. What he did understand was the desire to protect those you loved as much as you could. He understood that Colby had been trying to believe the best of Dwayne and that it killed him inside to learn that Dwayne had done those things. He'd been too many feet away and at the wrong angle to see the expression on Colby's face when Dwayne pulled the gun on him, but he couldn't miss the defeat in every line of Colby's broad shoulders and the fact that he was just standing there, not moving to or away from Dwayne. Just there, as if waiting for something he desperately wanted but knew he couldn't get, even if it was oblivion and whatever came after life.

There was one thing Don couldn't let go of, though: trust. Trust makes or breaks a team and, as soon as that trust is broken, it can all go down hill too quickly to be stopped. But it wasn't just the lost trust the team had had in Colby that was hanging Don up; it was Colby's trust in Dwayne. Yeah, Dwayne had saved Colby's life and that was a bond not easily broken, but that was over two years ago, and things change so quickly in this world, especially when an ugly divorce and a beautiful woman are involved.

But, deep at the root of all that was troubling Don was the thought that he could just as easily be one case away from being in Colby's shoes: choosing family, or even pseudo-family, over the team.

End.