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rora-s · 3 years

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The Derivative Chapter 8: Sports

Chapter 1 <- Chapter 7

“Do I even need to ask?” David snapped. Uncle Charlie just smiled smugly turning his hand around. The entire table groaned in annoyance.

“It’s not what it looks like, promise” Don spoke up.

“You brother hustling us?” one of Don’s friends Mike muttered.

“I’ve only played once before” Charlie informed as they collected the cards to deal another round of poker. “I actually have a one in eight chance of hitting a set when I’m holding a pocket pair. I’m about 50/50 to draw a flush with suited cards in my hand, two off the draw. I also count my outs I- I multiply by two. I add one. That’s roughly my percentage of hitting.” he explained.

“Card math” I muttered over my father’s shoulder as I walked past the table. Leaning over to snag some chips out of the snack bowl.

“Mr. Eppes you need to take my seat, your son is killing us” David declared as Alan brought out more chips.

“No, not me” Gramps objected “the only other time Charlie played, I learned my lesson about gambling with a mathematician”

“Hey could I-”

“No” Don cut me off “Ms. I-can’t-help-but-card-count”

“Not my fault I was born with perfect visual memory” I muttered as my father got up and headed to the kitchen.

“Hey weren’t we playing with bottle caps?” Charlie pointed out to his father.

“Yeah or else you’d have walked away with the pink slip to my car” Alan informed.

“You know, there is some element of chance here” Charlie explained “you know I- I may just be getting lucky.”

“Or you're just unlucky,” David joked to Mike.

“That’s funny Sinclair keep that up. It comes back to me when baseball starts” Mike countered taking a swig of his beer as dad returned and handed me a Mountain Dew as he sat down with his glass of water.

“Baseball?” Charlie questioned “”the FBI have a team?”

“Yeah, we got a whole league.” David explained “there’s, uh, LAPD, Sheriffs’ department”

“D.A.’s got the killer squad” Mike commented “Now that Kraft’s in San Diego, you guys don’t have a power hitter.”

“What about Don?” Charlie suggested.

“It’s not my thing” Don objected

“Oh, you play?” Mike inquired.

“Don went to college on a baseball scholarship,” Charlie informed. “What are you talking about? You played pro second base.”

“Single A about a million years ago” Don muttered.

“That’s great. It means you’re this year’s ringer.” Mike grumbled.

“Nope. I’m sorry.” Don objected quickly “not interest buddy”

“Come on, you gotta do it” David asked hopefully as Don’s phone rang.

“Excuse me” he murmured to us answering it. “Eppes… we’ll be right there” he declared, getting to his feet.

I sighed and shuffled back toward the kitchen where Alan was. “Looks like I’m spending the night,” I informed.

He looked up at me confused “really? Why?”

Just then Don popped into the doorway pulling on a jacket “hey dad I just got called in can she stay here tonight?”

I gave my grandfather a look who sighed “yes of course”

“Thanks,” Don murmured heading out.

______________

3rd POV.

“I’ve never seen him before,” Mr. Bayle declared, handing Don back the photo of Salazar.

“Are you sure?” the agent asked.

“Yeah” the man confirmed.

“I mean, maybe he did some work for you guys around here.” Don persisted.

“Yeah, he could have. I wouldn’t know” Bayle explained “Lisa was in charge of all that.”

“I’m just trying to figure out if there’s any possibility that this man knew your wife.” Don insisted as they stepped from the other man’s kitchen into his living room.

“Why?” Bayle inquired with a shrug as he stopped to face Don.

“You’re not going to want to hear this” Don prefaced reluctantly “but there are some questions about Cliff Howard’s conviction”

“The bastard said he did it,” Bayle scoffed.

“I know,” Don nodded.

“I haven’t seen you in a year” Bayle continued “I haven’t seen you since you interrogated me for 48 hours.”

“Sir..” Don tried to speak up but the other man continued.

“I had to call the funeral home handcuffed to a table.”

“I was pursuing your wife’s murder wherever it took me” Don attempted to explain his actions. “So help me..” he paused shaking his head and biting his lip and Bayle took the moment to speak again.

“Now you want to tear these wounds open again.”

“I don’t want to do that,” Don objected adamantly.

Both men paused to breathe and Don’s eyes wandered over to the mantel where he spotted a picture he recognized he shuffled over to point at it “that’s your, uh, your daughter. What’s her name? Paula?” he asked, trying to remember.

“Yes” Jonas answered, his voice still tense with emotion.

“Right. May I?” Don gestured to the photo.

“Go ahead,” Bayle allowed. Don took the photo from the mantel and looked at the young girl. “She’s a sophomore now.”

“Yeah, so is my daughter,” Don admitted.

“You have a daughter?” Jonas asked, surprised.

Don nodded “her names Abby.” he chuckled slightly with a bittersweet spike in his gut “yeah she came to live with me not too long ago after her mother died, car crash”

“I’m sorry” Bayle murmured, shifting on his feet.

Don replaced the photo and turned to face the other man. “Jonas, don’t you want to know the truth about your wife’s death?”

“Cliff Howard is the truth,” Bayle insisted.

______________

Abby POV.

“Okay tell me I’m crazy” Larry declared, setting his pencil down and rubbing his face with his hands. “I think I’ve just found a way to express Calabi-Yau manifolds in a way that goes beyond the existence of a nonvanishing harmonic spinor.”

“You're crazy,” I muttered, taking another bite of my food.

“Ch- Charles” Larry whined when he received no response from his fellow mathematician.

“Has he been out there all night?” Uncle C questioned turning away from the window he had been gazing out of. Watching my father play basketball.

“Well, on the bright side it seems like Don’s taken up an interest in sports again.” Alan commented.

Charlie sighed taking the seat next to me “it’s like the evidence proves him right and wrong at the same time”

“Oh, yeah, the old paradox of Schroedinger’s cat.” Larry murmured.

“Is that that persian that keeps hiding out in our garage?” Alan inquired.

“No, that's the Myers down the street’s cat” I muttered, taking a sip of my drink.

“It’s an intellectual exercise,” Charlie explained.

“I knew that,” Alan lied.

“Okay this is vastly simplified” Larry prompted “there’s a cat in a box. 50/50 chance it’s been poisoned, but now here’s the paradox: until such time as we can open the box and observe the cat, for that time, that cat is both alive and dead.”

“Larry I-I fail to see the analogy, though.” Charlie objected “I mean, in reality Don can’t be both right and wrong at the same time.”

“Well, of course not.” Alan chimed in “I mean, if a man is both right and wrong, then something’s gotta be wrong.”

“Positive and a negative equal a negative?” I scoffed.

“No. the truth of Schroedinger’s cat is that the question itself is meaningless until we look inside the box.” Larry informed.

“So you could ask a whole different question” I voiced.

“For a whole different result” Larry finished. Uncle Charlie immediately straightened and turned to look at the window again. Before getting up and heading outside after his brother. “Well and off he goes again to help solve the unjust of the world”

“You can always tell when he gets an idea he spaces out then runs” I muttered.

Larry hummed in agreement “you know you are quite insightful young enigma quite like your uncle I’m surprised you’ve yet to push ahead of your peers in academia like he so did”

“Oh here we go” Alan muttered.

“Well I’ve tried they won’t put me in advanced classes because I wasn’t in school consistently as a kid.” I explained.

“Well that’s absurd a brilliant mind shouldn’t be held back by the amount of desks they haven’t sat at or lectures they’ve witnessed” Larry voiced in annoyance.

“Preaching to the choir,” I told him.

“Yes but do me a favor and don’t get on the soap box of yours again” Gramps asked me.

I nodded in agreement and picked at the last bits of food on my plate. “You know what?” Larry spoke up causing me and Alan to look at him but his eyes were trained on me “you should attend CalSci once you’ve escaped high school. We have no such requirements if you show the aptitude”

“I don’t know I’m still looking at quite a bit of time being forced to look at this stuff in school let alone do I want to keep having to do school work beyond it.” I pointed out.

“No no no” Larry objected waving his hands “it’s not like that at CalSci you can learn what you want and gain knowledge and work to gather more knowledge of the universe itself with a very hands on approach”

I sighed finishing off my dinner and gathered my dishes. “I’ll think about it”

“Very well” Larry accepted the answer as I stood up.

“You done?” Alan asked.

“Yeah” I murmured, taking my dishes into the kitchen. I glanced out the window and spotted my Uncle joining my father in his basketball playing. I loved basketball. The one sport I was decent at. As I watched my mind different back to just shortly before I went to live with my father here.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

3rd POV.

“Yo Calvin” Abby looked up from where she was sitting with her back to a wall in the courtyard book in hand. A girl named Naomi was looking at her from the basketball court with the ball tucked under her arm. Other girls around her were glancing in Abby’s direction and muttering to each other. “We need a even number get over here”

Abby hesitated. Veronica was standing on the court eyeing her with the same hate in her eyes. However after one of her accomplices came over and whispered in her ear she nodded her agreement with the situation.

Abby sighed and closed her book getting up and heading to the court. “‘ight y’all line up me and V will choose the teams,” Naomi declared.

Abby stood in line with the seven other girls they had goated into playing with them. Veronica stuck to choosing her pals and Naomi was smart enough not to choose them but Veronica only had three friends and Abby ended up being the last one on the line as Naomi chose the girl next to her.

“Calvin and V on the same team” one of the girls on Naomi’s team voiced “this’ll be interesting.”

Abby scoffed and took her position on the court. “Hey bookworm don’t get in the way” Veronica snapped.

“Then stay out of mine” Abby shrugged. Veronica shot her a glare as the other girls jeered.

“Hey let’s play” Naomi called everyone’s attention.

The game started out easy. Naomi had the ball and was heading down the court. Abby intercepted her snagging the ball easily and heading down the court when she was slammed in the side hitting the ground. Veronica had the ball now and shot it into the hoop.

“Hey!” Abby yelled getting back to her feet “thought we were on the same team”

“Thought I said stay out of my way” Veronica retaliated coming up to get Abby’s face.

“Hey knock it off” Naomi pushed between the girls “either play or leave and sort your shit out the way you normally do and land in the infirmary”

“You telling me what to do, china?” Veronica snarled at Naomi.

Naomi shifted back a bit “I’m actually Korean not that it matters but what I’m trying to do is play some basketball. Now you two can go duke it out if you want at least it’ll keep the teams even”

Veronica scoffed “whatever” she stalked back onto the court.

Abby sighed and followed the game started up again and Abby barely touched the ball as it was passed from player to player. Until it got to a point where they had five minutes left of courtyard time and Naomi’s team was up by one.

“We need to score. You beat Naomi at ball, that's a serious brag even with dead weights like Harp and Richards on her team” Veronica’s lacky Fiona stated.

“Yeah well we aren’t going to if Veronica tries to score again” Abby muttered to the rest of the huddle.

“You saying I can’t shoot Calvin?” Veronica turned to her angry.

“No I’m saying our entire strategy has been geared to give you glory this entire time and they’ve figured that out” Abby explained “that’s why they’ve blocked our last five attempts.”

“What? You want us to pass it to you?” Veronica asked “that ain’t how that works Calvin”

“I don’t care who you pass it to” Abby shrugged “you just gotta pass it”

Veronica thought about it a moment “Alright Fi you take it” she declared. “Let’s go”

“Okay” Fiona muttered, sounding unsure.

The game started and Naomi’s team got the ball dribbling down the court. Veronica intercepted as Abby and Fiona headed down opposite sides of the court. Veronica looked to pass it and saw Naomi guarding Fiona who was looking less than confident. Then she saw Calvin raise her hand. She was completely open. No one expected Veronica to pass the ball to the one girl she beat up every other day.

Veronica passed the ball. Abby caught it easy and dribbled it a step before shooting it circled the hoop before dropping in to the cheers of the team.

“Alright ladies time to get inside” one of the matron’s called from the door the girls shuffled to the door Naomi scooping the ball.

“Nice shot Calvin” Naomi told her, shoving her shoulder as she passed.

Abby grabbed her book and headed inside. She was heading down the hall at a casual pace before she was pinned to the wall. Veronica had her collar. “That was a one time thing you got that?”

Abby blinked at the other girl “really? You're so insecure about your status you have to make that point?” she asked with every ounce of sass she could muster.

Veronica growled and threw her to the floor Abby got on her feet and shoved Veronica’s middle. The bigger girl pushed her away and soon they were grabbing at each other pulling hair and scratching. Soon someone was there to pull them apart.

“Why do any of us expect different of those two?” Abby heard Naomi mutter to Fiona as Abby and Veronica were led to the infirmary.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

Abby POV.

“Bye Uncle Charlie” I called from the shade as the mathematician peeled off the fence of the batting cages and headed back to his car.

“Bye Abbs” Charlie replied with a wave. I glanced over at my father as another crack of baseball on bat sounded. He was really starting to get into a rhythm, a proud smile on his face. I smiled lightly and returned to my reading. However there was only a moment of peace before Don appeared grabbing his water bottle and taking a swig.

“You want to take a few whacks?” He asked, gesturing to the batting cage.

I shot another look over at the ball spitter. “Uh no thanks I’ve never really..” I trailed off gesturing at the cage with an implied statement and apathetic wave.

Don looked at the cage then back at me with a small amount of shock evident in his face. “You’ve never played baseball before?” He asked in disbelief.

“Maybe once in gym class” I shrugged answering honestly. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed Donald but I’m kinda on the nerd side of things”

Don scoffed. “Come on” he grabbed my book and much to my relief remembered to put the bookmark in its place before closing it. “No daughter of mine is going to go through life without playing baseball”

I scoffed as I was pulled to my feet and given a helmet. I would normally put up a bit more of a fight but I knew that this sport meant a lot to him. So I kept my remarks to myself and went along with it. We headed out to the cage. He showed me what position to take. How to hold the bat properly and watch the ball.

Even with his coaching it took a while before I actually hit the ball. When I did it was quite auspicious to us both. Despite it not going anywhere near where we wanted it to go. There was a lot of laughing and joking and we both left happy reliving the events in story with some subtle elaborations. Don excited to take me back some time.

Chapter 9 ->

#Don Eppes #Charlie Eppes #Alan Eppes #Larry Fleinhardt #amita ramanujan #Terry Lake #David Sinclair #Numb3rs #numb3rs season 1 #don has a daughter #Episode Related #episode per chapter #also on quotev #Also posted on AO3

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