Title: Ask Me No Questions
Author: Ursula
Rating: rating: R
Genre and/or Pairing: Neal Caffrey and Peter Burke.
Notes: Written for White Collar Kink Meme again. Prompt was for an OMC, but I used Ruiz. Here's the request: Neal/Peter/Elizabeth. Non-con (I prefer just the attempt, can be off screen) by an OMC on Neal. He was going to submit to protect Peter and Elizabeth. They love him for it. Bonus points if Neal cries and Peter calls him "My boy". I am going for the bonus points as I already fudged by making the bad guy, Ruiz.
Warnings: Neal is nearly raped.
Spoilers: Book of Hours
Warnings: Slash and non con sexual harassment of Neal
Word Count:
Summary: Peter is out of town and Ruiz blackmails Neal for sex, threatening to reveal a three way sexual relationship between Neal, Elizabeth, and Peter that does not (as yet) exist.
Give Jones a hand. Clinton Jones may not have a starring role, but I give him some props here.
OooOooO
The FBI building was all windows. It was an architectural whim Neal supposed, but it struck him as being paranoid. He didn't know how people could stand it. To Neal, it was too much like prison where eyes were constantly on you. You couldn't even defecate in private.
Distracted by his own thoughts, Neal went back over the report he was reading and confirmed the glimmer in his mind. Yes, the accountant should have caught the glaring deficit sooner. He dug through the stack of files to see what the man's personal finances looked like. Ah, yes. Ah ha. The man's bank account looked clean, but there was a sister in law who spent most of her time at his house. Neal made a call to Pablo Munoz in records to order the sister in law's financial records. He expected to have an answer soon. It was not brilliance, Neal understood. It was time to read, to comb through the documents when there were usually more interesting and pressing matters.
Ruiz poked his head into Peter's office. Glancing at the man, Neal said, "Peter's not here. He's consulting on another case in Baltimore."
"I know," Ruiz said.
There was something about the way he said it that made Neal nervous. Ruiz said, "I asked Hughes if I could borrow you. There's something about one of my cases."
It made Neal nervous. He knew Ruiz constantly complained about him being here.
"Come on," Ruiz said.
The tracker imposed obedience and Neal was responsive to authority anyway. He had spent most of his youth in academic situations where he might rebel outside, but followed conventions inside. He followed Ruiz down to the basement to the room where old files were kept. He startled as he heard the click of the door locking behind Ruiz.
Ruiz said, "I know what's going on between you and the Burkes."
"What?" Neal asked. "There's nothing going on between us. They are friends. El liked to feed me and Peter likes to keep an eye on me."
Which was true to date. Not that Neal didn't have hopes of making that outdated information.
"Yeah, right, I see how Burke is with you. Don't know how long it's been going on but I want some of what you give him," Ruiz said.
Wordlessly, Ruiz pinned Neal to the wall, his kiss filthy and brutal, his hands tearing at Neal's zipper. Neal pushed the man away forcibly and maneuvered for the locked door.
Ruiz said, "I got pictures. I got records."
It was insane. Neal knew that nothing had happened.
Grabbing Neal roughly again, Ruiz was all over him, tongue slithering repulsively, half choking him, hand inserted into the back of Neal's trousers, feeling his ass beneath his briefs.
Neal's senses heightened by fear and loathing caught the rattling door. He turned his face away from Ruiz's kiss and said, "Someone's at the door."
The pounding in the door echoed the pounding in Neal's heart. "Caffrey? Neal, you in there? Hey, Peter wants you to find something in his office that I can't find! Hey, man, Sally said you and Ruiz came down here. Come on, man! You better not be taking a nap in there!"
Ruiz snarled, shoved away from Neal and pointed to a box of files on the floor. "Go act like you're digging through that and don't say a word if you don't want Agent Burke compromised."
Neal obeyed, bruising his knees he went down on the floor so hard. He pulled out files, red faced with fury. How dare Ruiz! How dare him!
The physical indignity was bad enough. There had been some near misses in prison that freaked Neal out. It was not that it was another man groping him. Before Kate, he had as many boyfriends as girl friends. He was even serious about a couple of his romances with other men, both of the relationships with older guys. That did not make what had just happened any better. It was his body, damn it. His right to say yes or no.
Ruiz shouted, "Hang on. The door jammed on us. "
"Oh, yeah, man, it's always doing that," Jones said.
"I told Caffrey not to shut it. Does he listen?" Ruiz said.
A moment later, Jones was in the doorway. Neal jetted up, squeezed out the door, past Jones and said, "Come on. What is it Peter needs?"
"Easy, man," Jones said, "Peter's not that mad yet. What did Ruiz want with you?"
The hell of it was that Neal almost told him on the spot. Instead, Neal said, "It was nothing. He just wanted to see me scrabbling through those dusty old files."
"Asshole," Jones said, patting Neal on his arm. "Don't sweat it. Peter will be back soon and Ruiz doesn't mess with him."
"What is it with Ruiz and Peter?" Neal said. "Why does he have such a case about Peter?"
"Hughes favors Peter. He let Ruiz's position stay vacant for two months when the last guy retired while he tried to talk Peter into taking it. Ruiz was like third choice. There was another guy in another office who didn't want to transfer in."
"Must have played hell on Ruiz's ego," Neal said. He understood the angle of striking at Peter through Neal, but why the sexual aspect? As far as Neal had heard, Ruiz was an office stalker, always on the prowl to the point that some of the female clerks wouldn't go up into his office without a witness.
Upstairs, Neal quickly found the Mallory report that Peter needed and volunteered to run it to the couriers. He wanted as far from Ruiz as he could.
OooOooO
Neal spent the next two days avoiding Ruiz, hoping Peter would be back soon. As he waited outside the bureau for a cab, Ruiz pulled up and gestured for Neal to get in the car. Neal shook his head, looking around but no one he knew was around. He started to back toward the door of the bureau building, but Ruiz looked savage in his anger. He held something up and Neal recognized a picture with Peter in it. Reluctantly, Neal walked toward the car and entered.
Ruiz drove away, creating a wave of water that swamped a passerby, a tall woman who shook an angry fist after Ruiz.
"Rude," Neal said.
"You're always flaunting your finishing school manners at people," Ruiz said. "You're nothing but a whore and that's how I'm going to use you."
"Ruiz, you are out of your mind!" Neal said. "What would you get out of it? What fun is there forcing someone into your bed? If you want a date, maybe I can find you someone."
"I want you," Ruiz said. "I want what Peter Burke has. I want what he takes from me. I work as hard as he does. I'm as smart. I went to college too. Why the fuck does Hughes think the sun shines for him? No, you belong to Peter Burke, but I'm going to use you. I'm going to make you feel so dirty you won't ever be able to look that bitch, Elizabeth Burke, in the eye."
Neal knew that Ruiz was mis-wired, but this was insane. Ruiz said, "Look at the pictures, pretty boy."
Who the crap wrote the guy's dialog? Neal has noticed before that Ruiz talked like a bad gangster's movie. When Neal stopped raving to himself, he looked at the pictures.
They were all innocent enough. Peter and Neal walking on their way to lunch, Peter's hand hovering toward Neal's back. Yes, Peter had a habit of touching Neal, but it wasn't sexual, was it? It was...Neal had noticed it from the first week he worked with Peter. At first, he resented it, thinking that Peter acted as if he was still in custody and he had to keep a hand on him. Later, noticing that Peter was the same way with El, Neal was pleased by the way Peter always seemed to have a hand hovering over him. Peter was a possessive guy and Neal found he liked being coveted and protected. Somehow he didn't twig that anyone else would notice.
The picture at the open market with El was just an innocent kiss. Neal had found the perfect center piece for a Rat Pack theme party and El had laid a kiss on him. It meant nothing or perhaps it meant more to Neal than it did to El. El was the most loving wife. What would she want with Neal, who was a convicted felon, someone who could not even keep his girl friend safe or happy?
There were others. Peter leaning across the desk, eyes intent on Neal. They were just talking about a case. Really. It just looked...different in the picture, like Peter was asserting ownership of Neal, as if he couldn't break his gaze away from Neal's face.
There was the one that was caught on a day when El came to take Peter and Neal to lunch. It was a beautiful warm day and Neal was happy. Peter and he had just solved a case so Peter was momentarily content with life. El had Peter safe so she was delighted. Peter had his arm in El's. She took Neal's in hers. Elizabeth's face was turned toward Neal with such a look of affection that Neal wondered how he could miss it except that he was leaning across her to point his finger at Peter, grinning at his partner in what even he had to admit looked like flirtation.
"None of these are proof of anything," Neal said.
"Here's your tracker's records," Ruiz said. "You were there all night five times in the last two months."
"I was working most of the night with Peter," Neal said. "Twice. Once I was sick and El said I should stay in the guest room. The fourth time was June having a family reunion and needing my room. The fifth time...well, I don't remember why I stayed that time, but it wasn't because I was sleeping with them."
"Yeah, yeah," Ruiz said. "Everyone knows Peter Burke has a thing for you. You want Hughes to look at what I got? You value your comfort that much? It isn't like you'd be doing anything you haven't done before."
"Please, please," Neal begged. "Don't. Don't make me."
"You have a couple days to think about it," Ruiz said. "Then you better be at my place, ready to do every damn thing I say. Peter Burke thinks he owns you. I will own you."
OooOooO
The next morning, copies of the pictures were sitting on the desk Neal was using in the bullpen. He gazed at the top one, the picture of Peter and him at Peter's desk, stricken, until Jones' voice behind him said, "Nice picture of Peter and you. Kind of sweet." Jones looked around and said, "Hope the boss never hears me say that."
"What's wrong with you?" Jones asked. "You haven't been yourself for two days."
"Maybe I'm tired of being myself, tired of the jokes about my leash, tired of people waiting for me to steal the stapler off their desk," Neal said. He shoved the picture and the ones with it into his desk, jumped up, ignoring Jones' startled expression, and almost ran out of the office.
When Neal returned with a coffee to cover his absence, Ruiz walked by, looked Neal up and down with an air of ownership. He tapped his wristwatch, leaned over Neal's desk and whispered, "Got those fur lined handcuffs for you. Don't want Burke to see any marks on you that he didn't make."
Neal wasn't a violent man, but he wanted to leap across his desk and slam his delicate, valuable artist's hands into Ruiz's face. The idea of having this man touch him much less to submit to his rutting on him repulsed him. Neal looked up and saw Jones watching from Peter's office. He was too far away to hear anything and it was too early for most people to be in, but Jones looked as if he was turning something over in his mind.
OooOooO
Neal worked hard through the morning, entering data on his dreaded mortgage fraud cases. He intended to work through lunch, but suddenly Jones and Cruz were hovering over him. Neal looked up at them with suspicion. He said, "What? I'm working. I haven't taken a break since this morning and that was only a quick coffee run."
"We know," Jones said. "You missed lunch yesterday and the day before. Peter will kill us if he comes back and you've blown away in the wind like Mary Poppins."
"We're taking you to lunch," Cruz said, "and we're not asking. Come."
Neal opened his mouth to argue and Jones handed him his coat, taking Neal's arm firmly. It felt so much like the way Peter handled him that Neal found himself slipping into instant obedience.
Worried, Neal glanced toward Ruiz' office and Jones followed his gaze, nodding to Lauren Cruz as if confirming the conclusion to a case file.
Neal was conveyed to Jones' favorite Chinese restaurant to be stuffed with dumplings. Away from Cruz, Neal felt better and was able to eat the first real meal he was able to enjoy since Peter left.
Dessert however involved Jones and Cruz double teaming him.
"What is Ruiz doing to you?" Cruz said directly.
"I know he's up to something," Jones said. "Guy gives me the creeps."
"He hasn't been right since he was kidnapped last year," Cruz pointed out.
"Kidnapped?" Neal repeated.
"Yes, he was on a case and he went missing for three days," Cruz said. "Turned up tied up in a warehouse, pretty beat up. Never went into details but I guess it was a rough few days."
Neal's wheels turned in his head. He thought he knew why Ruiz was acting the way he did. He said, "Did he have a psychiatric review."
"He passed it," Cruz said.
"How do you know all of this?" Neal asked. "You're the probie."
"I know because Jones knows. Clinton did some investigating after this morning," Cruz said. "I know Hughes isn't entirely happy with Peter's trust in you, but he would rein Ruiz in."
"Yeah, Hughes doesn't care for bullies," Jones said, reaching across the table to pat Neal on the arm.
Neal wanted to ask for help. He was touched that his team mates were so willing to help him, but Ruiz met with Hughes every day. It was hard to believe that Hughes would believe Neal over a department head like Ruiz. He would have to solve this his own way. Run, cut the tracker and run quickly while Peter was out of town or submit.
And he knew he couldn't run. Not without hurting Peter and El.
OooOooO
The next morning Peter was back, cheerful, smug from having solved the case in Baltimore. He breezed into Neal's apartment unannounced, finding Neal about to pour gin into his coffee. Peter said, "Since when do you drink your breakfast?"
"Peter, it was just going to be a small shot of courage," Neal said. He had decided during the night to get it over, let Ruiz fuck him. Let him do whatever he wanted to do. He had decided, but that didn't mean it was an easy thing with which to live. It made him feel sick as if he had already been violated. He was not a macho guy. He didn't even like the concept. It wasn't healthy or remotely attractive in his opinion. That didn't mean Neal didn't have a concept about himself as a man, which didn't include letting himself be molested by some crazy asshole.
"Why do you need a shot of courage?" Peter asked. "Jones said something about Ruiz harassing you. Tell me about it, Neal. I'll have a talk with him."
"Jones should mind his own business," Neal said. "Ruiz was just talking to me. There was no drama, no problem I can't handle."
That inverted line appeared on Peter's forehead. His eyes focused on Neal intently as if he could read his mind. "Come here," Peter said.
"I am here," Neal said, but Peter had his hand on Neal's arm, drawing him up. Neal, as if hypnotized, follows him up.
"Now, tell me," Peter said. "Did you do something? Is there a reason why Ruiz is on your ass?"
The spell was broken. Neal shook himself free and said, "Yeah, I worked nine hours a day while you were gone. I think I broke the Baldwin case for you and wrote a report that even Hughes can't bitch about. I've faced guns, been shoved around, threatened, and coerced since the day I started working with you. And you are still taking Ruiz's side over mine. I get it. I really get it so lay off unless maybe you want to shove me around a little because you can do that, can't you? I'm anyone's meat at the FBI. It's worse than prison. Worse."
Peter's mouth gaped open and his eyes went from suspicious to concerned. "Neal? Look, I'm sorry. Tell me what's wrong."
"I want to go back," Neal said. "I'll serve my sentence. Tell Hughes I want to go back. Today. Send me back right now."
OooOooO