Excellent premise, and very well done. I miss Megan :(

Emily

Nice addition to an intense episode. It really did need a scene between Don and Megan and I can see this happening. Thanks, Beth

Very sweet.
Man I miss Megan.

I loved this. The conversation flowed so naturally, the characterisation was perfect. Well done.

This is really sad, but I enjoyed it a lot. I think you captured Megan's and Don's characters very well. I hope you write more of Megan in the future. (We can't let her disappear!) Keep up the great work!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
You just put my two favorite characters in the biggest missing-scene of the season-and NAILED it! They were both in perfect character. I always thought the writers forgot this beautiful friendship, so I'm so glad you wrote this. A perfect mix of humor and sorrow. I'm really glad Megan talked with Don about Charlie, and tried to set him straight. And it was really sweet when Don started listing things Megan Wouldn't miss about L. A., (like Colby's coffee), just to cheer her up.

-Don put up his hand to smooth the hair at the back of her head. "Just you wait, sweetheart, you'll be awesome. You always were awesome."-

Couldn't have said it better myself. Good night and good luck, Megan Reeves.

I'm having a little trouble with the concept that choosing which laws to follow and which ones to conveniently ignore is "evil" when Don does it and suddenly "noble" when Charlie does it. Only difference I can see is that Charlie has the luxury of distance - all he has to do is press a little plastic key, not look anybody in the eye, and he will probably never come face to face with whatever results - good or evil - his actions may have wrought or may come from the use of the information he sent. Comfortable, but a little arrogant and a lot naive, as any scientist can tell you. Don, on the other hand, works at ground zero and will always get hit smack in the head with the results of his decisions.

One small canon thing - in "Two Daighters", Don tells Alan his boxes are stored in his own spare room, not Charlie's garage. This reinforces what he said in "Counterfeit Reality" when he's looking for the box that contains Kim Hall's old engagement ring and Dear John letter - that he thought he got them all when he moved out after his mother's death, but must have missed one. He did miss one that Charlie finds in his basement and rummages through before returning it.

As for Charlie dying for Don? I don't know that I see that. There's a lot of fic about how devoted Charlie is to Don, but it's hard to find in the show. Seems to me he spends a whole of of time critcizing Don, more than anything else. Maybe it's just writers' wishful thinking. To be honest, I can't quite picture Charlie dying for anybody.

Beautifully written. I was so disappointed that Don and Megan did not say goodbye on the show. Sometimes I wonder about Nick and Cheryl. Don and Megan had such a good relationship, there should have been a farewell scene for the viewers.

But, we have this, and I enjoyed the image of them working together (they have always worked well together. I thought you did a great job with the characterizations. I loved Megan's comment about wanting to be in a place where it was not her job to see terrorists under every rock. And, I got goosebumps, at the end, when he turned around and saw her standing in the doorway.

Thank you for this very fitting farewell scene.

Khandi:

I wasn't trying to write St Charlie and Bad Don, although I do think Charlie is nearer right than Don is. I suspect his motives of being considerably mixed.

Bear in mind, though, that:

1. Megan has her own issues with the Bureau--why do you think she's leaving? Whatever she did on her DoJ assignment made her lose faith in the job. She's talking partly about herself, not just about Don.

2. Charlie isn't likely to lose his job over his actions. Megan's more warning Don than condemning him.

3. Don's rulebending is in the direction of interfering with suspects' civil rights, while Charlie's is in support of freedom of speech. As Don points out, who fits in better with the parental ethos?

4. Perhaps most importantly, this is written in tight third-person pov, and Don is _not_ quite a reliable narrator. He's feeling hurt and betrayed and angry, but he's doing that thing he does where Charlie gets himself into trouble and Don takes responsibility for his actions, or for getting him into the situation in the first place. It's, 'Well, I wasn't lost' all over again.

This is nice, especially since we never got to see a Don/Terry parting scene OR a Don/Megan parting scene. I do have a problem with trying to make one brother right (St. Charlie) and the other wrong (Bad Don) in tbis situation, though - I think it is a gross over simplification. I especially find it interesting because Charlie was lecturing Don just before this incident on circumventing the law some for what he considered the greater good - keeping a suspect off the street a little longer than was strictly ethical, pushing the limits of the law in hopes of preventing further carnage. Then, when the ball is in Charlie's court and HE'S faced with the decision of circumventing the law a little for the greater good, what does he do? The exact same thing. The path is real clear when the responsibility is not on your shoulders, and a whole lot murkier when it is, as Charlie found out. I always hoped he realized that and felt like a bit of a pompous ** for his crack to Don about still seeing his therapist, because he sure should. Holier than thou doesn't look good on him right now. There ain't no substitute for trying on somebody else's shoes.