This is kinda sorta but not really a sequel to "Friend" Territory. This takes place during Withdrawal before Neal stole from the bank. Pretty much my view of how the characters welcomed Neal back.
Neal watched the armed guards around him curiously. They didn't seem to grasp the fact that he was a white collar criminal aka a criminal who is generally nonviolent and prefers to talk their way out of anything and everything. You'd think that since he was technically on their side that would give him some sort of wary trust, but these were paranoid prison guards. How could they trust that the convict who escaped a maximum security prison wasn't going to escape a transport van? Sure, being handcuffed to the chair could be easily dealt with, but then he'd have to take out seven armed guards with nothing on his side other than the element of surprise, which probably wouldn't last long. Of course, on the off chance he managed that he'd have to escape from a moving car or either knockout the driver, not an especially clever thing to do when the car was going over 60 mph.
"So," Neal began, flashing a charming smile at the prison guards who looked at him suspiciously, "have any kids?" Neal quickly squashed down the small wave of worry that rose in him as one of the prison guards turned to Neal with a dangerous glint in his eye.
~O~
Agent Peter Burke paced impatiently in the surveillance van, wondering why the prisoner transport van was late. He didn't see why one was necessary. On a danger scale, rating Neal even as a 'one' seemed a bit extreme. The FBI could have easily handled Neal's transportation, but the Inquiry Panel felt that Peter was already "too attached" to the conman, so that was a no go.
"Peter, they're here," Jones said, nodding to the approaching van.
Peter felt relief flow through him. "Alright," the federal agent said with a slight grin, "Jones, stay here and I'll go fetch Neal." Jones waved in acknowledgement as Peter quickly walked to the back of the transport van and knocked. Peter frowned as the door slide open and saw Neal apparently coming to the punch line of a joke that sent the prison guards reeling with laughter. Only Neal…he grumbled to himself even though he felt the corners of his mouth slowly turn upward.
The conman's face lit up as he saw Peter. "I have to be going and, don't take this the wrong way, but I really hope I don't see you anytime soon," Neal smiled as a new round of laughter went through the guards, closely followed by a chorus of "bye, Neal"s as he sauntered over to Peter.
Peter gave up trying to keep his stern expression as he clapped Neal on the shoulder with a grin. "So, I see they stopped by June's house," he said, in way of a greeting.
Neal flipped the fedora on his head as he grinned at Peter. "More like the other way around. The FBI didn't really expect me to go undercover dressed in an orange jumpsuit did they?"
Peter still had a slight smile on his face as he opened up the door to the surveillance van.
"Neal!" Jones greeted. "Glad you're finally back."
"It's great to finally be out of prison," Neal agreed with a smile. He frowned as he realized that someone was missing. "Where's Lauren?"
"She got reassigned back to Organized Crime," Peter said, "but she wanted us to say 'hey' for her."
"Well, I feel loved. So what do I need to do?" Neal asked, trying to get away from the emotional moment that might be lurking nearby. He knew Peter wasn't good at emotional stuff. That was more Elizabeth's territory than his and, if Neal was completely honest, he wasn't too fond of being overly emotional either.
Peter looked subtly relieved that Neal changed the subject. He slapped down blueprints in front of Neal. "These belong to the First Union Bank. We need you to steal $100,000 from them without getting caught."
"I'm pretty sure that's illegal, Peter and I'm sure we can think of a nice, honest, legal way to get through this money crisis you seem to be going through," Neal said, completely serious.
Peter rolled his eyes. "It's for a case."
"I'm calling this a gray area."
Peter gave Neal an exasperated look as Jones snorted. Why had he been missing this again?"Just look at the blueprints."
"See, sir," Neal said with only a hint of sarcasm.
Peter watched as blue eyes skimmed over the blueprints. He wasn't entirely sure how long they would have to wait for Neal to find a flaw in the security system. Probably a couple hours…maybe Peter should've met him at the FBI Headquarters first. That way he could get caught up on some paperwork while Neal tried to find a plausible way to break into the bank.
"Got it," the ex-convict said triumphantly, interrupting Peter's thought process.
"It only took you a few minutes to come up with a plan to steal 100 grand from a high security bank?" Peter asked in disbelief.
Neal smirked at Peter. "Well, I can pretend to go over the blueprints for an hour and then come up with a plan if that'll make you feel better."
The federal agent pinched the bridge of his nose. "Alright Caffrey, what is it?"
" 'Caffrey'? Peter, I'm hurt. I thought we were past the last name basis."
Peter gave Neal a withering look. The conman smiled innocently in return and launched into a speech about how he planned to break in First Union. He'd gain access through the basement in a guise of a janitor and put a 'welcome basket' in the tube system which would grant him access to the bank's safe—sounded quite simple actually.
Peter glanced at Jones out of the corner of his eye and saw a mildly impressed look on his face. Yeah, Peter would have to agree. He was just glad Neal was on their side.
"Alright Neal, sounds doable," Peter said ignoring his partner's amused expression. "So do you need to go rob the bank now or maybe after you—?"
"I can go in now," Neal interrupted with a tiny smirk.
Peter gave Neal an astounded expression. He probably shouldn't be all that surprised that the blue-eyed conman could so easily steal $100,000 dollars in a matter of minutes. Even if Neal was going against a top notch security system, although the system wasn't as top notch as it was a few years ago, and all he did was glance over the blueprints for about a minute and a half. But the fact that Neal just happened to have a 'welcome basket' ready Peter just found hard to believe. The federal agent gave him one last exasperated look before nodding. "Have fun and Neal—"
"Be careful," Neal finished for him. "Always am." The conman grinned as he opened the doors of the surveillance van and sauntered towards the back of the bank.
Peter and Jones traded a look.
"Fifty dollars says that Neal is out in no less than twenty minutes."
"Jones," Peter said sternly, "how can you make a bet like that?"
Jones looked slightly abashed at Peter's scolding.
Peter glowered at Jones for a few more seconds before letting his face break into a grin. "Obviously, Neal will be out in twelve minutes tops."
Hope I didn't ruin the whole Peter and Jones meeting Neal thing. I know some of you might've wanted Peter and Neal to run slow motion and hug each other as soon as they caught sight of each other, but since Peter is always like "cowboy up" and isn't that good with emotions. I figured that he wouldn't feel that comfortable hugging Neal. So yeah…that's my reason.
Oh and I might write about everyone else meeting Neal for the first time after he comes back from prison if you like this so…
REVIEW!
Oh and type 'white collar' in on youtube an watch the second video. It. is. HILARIOUS!