Hy thank you for reading this story!
I'm not a mother language so a very nice girl correct this entire chapter.
So thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you ImAGiver i promise you I'll work hard in the next chapters to make easier your work.
Bye!
CHAPTER 1 – "Files, Files and Files…"
The usually orderly agent lounged with a slack mouth atop his coach, snoring softly and mumbling incoherent words in his deep sleep.
God, this was the first time he had slept so well in what seemed like ages.
Even the little alarm clock, which had been incessantly ringing for the past ten minutes, failed to rouse him from his slumber.
A beautiful woman slinked in from the dining room and smiled when she saw her husband looking as innocent as a child in his peaceful sleep.
"Peter" she called softly, sitting near him on the couch.
The man woke up with a snort, but he remained with his eyes half-lidded for a sometime before realizing where he was.
"Crap. I fell asleep?" Peter more stated then asked with a bitter tone. His wife simply smiled at his shattered expression.
In an attempt to calm the disappointed agent, Elisabeth began loosening his tie. Peter allowed her, observing her affectionate gestures. "Relax, baby. It's been a week since you've been home." she reminded, undoing the top button of his shirt. "Maybe you can stay at home today with me…" she proposed with a seductive grin.
Peter raised a curious eyebrow at the proposition but then he caught sight of the gray hat sitting on the coffee table. He grumbled a curse word. "No, sorry, honey, I have to get to work." He stood up, trying to gather his bearings. "Crap, I forgot I needed to give these documents for Neal to go over. We need it for the case." He said to his somewhat disappointed wife.
The two knew how Neal hated paperwork because Neal constantly riddled with complaints that he could find something much more productive to do. The couple cringed at whatever protests the conartist would brew up this time.
She sighed, glad she didn't have to be the bearer of bad new to the overactive Neal. "You have adopted a troublesome kid!"
"No, we have adopted a troublesome kid!" Peter reminded with a smile as he kissed her on the cheek. He waved to her as he exited the house and got in his car. After a long drive to his work, Peter then went in search of said troublesome kid, hoping he wasn't already getting in trouble as they spoke.
As expected, Peter found Neal in his office, a stack of files obscuring his view of the fiendish con. Apparently, Neal had found better uses for the pile of documents, such as a hiding stand for studying his anklet.
"Neal!" Peter said with a tone of irritation. "Stop doing whatever are you doing to that thing."
Neal smiled, trying not to seem startled by Peter's sudden appearance and wondering how Peter could have possibly seen him through such a large stack of files.
"Isn't it time we took this thing off?" he asked, obviously joking although there was a tinge of hope in his eyes.
"Yes, if you were a grown up puppy." said the agent. "Unfortunately, you've still got some time before you're house-trained." Peter picked up some files from the table and began studying them.
Neal shook his head at the testing comment, and used the silence to return to his original "anklet-breaking" venture. Looking up, the agent, irritated by Neal's complete disregard for the device and for him, walked over to Neal and sharply hit him on the head with some files before returning to the window to review the files again.
Making a face at Peter's turned back, Neal sighed before stretching himself out on the chair like a cat.
"You know, if you really hate this work so much, we could just put you back in the place you belong." Peter said, recalling his and Elle's original conversation.
"Yes, yes… I know," Neal replied with a yawn, already used to Peter's prison threats.
Peter handed the kid some more documents to go over. Neal persisted to yawn for the next hour while reading over the tedious lines of text.
Peter's phone started vibrating on his desk and Neal took the liberty of answering it. The con flipped it open with a smooth, "Peter Burke's phone. Caffrey speaking." The FBI agent pulled it out from the kid's hand, angry about Neal's increasing confidence with Peter's things.
"This is Peter." Peter seethed to the person on his other line, his boss Hughes. They began talking about the case and discussing possible suspects to interview. After the tense call was finally finished, the man cast Neal a malignant look.
"Hopefully you finish this work before I come back. If not, I might have to make some adjustments to your tracker's radius!" Neal scowled slightly at Peter's statement but figured he could finish what was left of the paperwork by that time.
On his way out, Peter stopped only to talk to Lauren. After their short discussion was finished, she entered the office with a truck full of new documents.
Neal eyed the stack with incredulity. "What? You're kidding, right?"
The girl smiled, amused by Neal's stressed expression. "Peter ordered me to give these to you before going out. Maybe he's worried you'll get too distracted." she smiled innocently.
Mustering the energy, Neal tried not to lose self-control and, instead, accepted the challenge.
Just before exiting the room, she popped her head at him to point to the top of the stack. "Wait, he left you a message. Right there."
The kid found a small lined paper in which was written "I think you will have to lose your lunch today. -Peter"
Grumbling at Peter's sick sense of humor, Neal set to the task. First, he started a slow analysis of the dates. 'Okay, I just have to find the false dates. Easy enough.' He felt like he was playing a videogame. Hopefully many of them were completely false. Some time into the paperwork, Neal started to think that Peter must have tricked him and maybe this was "Peter -punishment" for Neal's GPS obsession his guardian hated so much.
After analyzing over thirty false checks, his attention began to dwindle as Neal found himself recalling his past criminal life.
Five years prior, he was living on easy street with his check forgery schemes and having affairs with rich married women. Neal hadn't a care in the world when he tricked his victims. In his opinon, they had deserved it! Just because they weren't as smart as him, didn't mean they weren't swindling someone bigger on the side. Years ago, Neal was merciless and he was greedy. Neal wouldn't stop until the number "0" was registered on their accounts.
Yet when Peter started chasing him, things changed drastically. Neal had to start being careful. One slip up would send fearful shivers down Neal's spine and cause him so much trauma, he wouldn't sleep for days. After two years of being chased, Neal had gotten good though. So good, he started to think he was unmatchable by any other criminal and invincible to any law enforcement.
"Pride comes before a fall." As the saying goes. And oh, how hard Neal fell! It was only by a miracle that Neal got the gig that he did. Yet now that he was working on the right side of the law, he had even more battles to overcome. Some days were terrible, especially when he had to face the very people he defrauded. But it did get him closer to finding his one and only, Kate, and that somehow made it all worth it.
"Aren't you working?" a voice shook him out of his thoughts.
Realizing he had almost dozed off in his silent reverie, Neal jumped a little before turning to see Lauren standing with her arms crossed and leaning against the door.
"Bad dreams?" she asked.
"I wasn't sleeping," Neal said, stretching again. He gave her his winning smile. "And who said they were bad?"
Lauren rolled her eyes; Neal always changing a question into another question.
"Here. Lemme help you with this before Peter's sees all this 'progress'." she said, walking over.
The kid's smile seemed to grow bigger at her actions. "My, my, how sweet of you. Sure you aren't doing this for another reason?" he asked, trying to make Lauren blush. The girl suddenly leaned in very close to Neal, to the point that her hair was touching his shoulder.
"Felons don't make good lovers," She whispered and then smiled before sitting in Peter's chair, trying not to meet Neal's flustered gaze.
After the pair finished working on the paperwork, they eased into pleasant conversation on all the stupid things Neal did to trick Peter in those three years the man was chasing him.
While they continued talking and waiting for Peter's return, Jones walked in the room "Aren't you sick of work yet?" he said.
They looked at the agent, who always seemed tired of the tedious aspect of FBI work.
"Ah, Caffrey! Almost forgot. Hughes wants to see you," Jones said. The two agents were looking at Neal with an oddly appraising air.
"What? I haven't done anything," he raised his arms in defense, as if to prove his innocence.
"Who hasn't done anything?" Peter came in with his hand on his sides and with a severe smile. When he spotted Neal with his trademark "innocent expression," the agent couldn't help cursing. "Damnit, Neal! What did you do this time?" He started pointing a finger toward Neal but the kid slipped out of the room without listening to him.
"Neal..." Peter growled after him as a father would growl at his troublesome son. The kid turned to salute and smile at him just before entering Hughes office.
XXXX
A few days after the Neal's Hughes visit, Peter was sitting on his office chair with some coffee at hand in hopes that it would somehow help him from falling asleep on his monotonous case files.
Just as Peter was about to seriously fall asleep, Lauren entered the room with a paper in her hands.
His tiredness immediately faded when he glanced up because he saw something bad coming just by looking at her.
Peter read the paper and crumpled it into his fist, slamming it onto the table in frustration.
"Damnit, Neal…" he seethed.
To Be Continued...
Here's the Italian version!
CAPITOLO 1
Un uomo in giacca e cravatta dormiva tranquillamente appoggiato allo schienale del divano e con le gambe allungate sul piccolo tavolino davanti.
Era la prima volta che dormiva così bene da giorni e neanche la piccola sveglia sul tavolo che suonava da ben 10 minuti lo svegliava.
Un rumore di tacchi invase il corridoio e una bella donna entrò e sorrise alla vista del marito che dormiva come un bambino
"Peter!" lo chiamò dolcemente sedendosi accanto a lui.
L'uomo sobbalzò e rimase con gli occhi mezzi aperti per un po' prima di comprendere cosa stesse facendo e dove era.
"Mi sono addormentato" disse stupito e la donna rise della faccia sconvolta del marito.
Gli sciolse la cravatta e gli sbottonò la camicia mentre lui la guardava interrogativo.
"E' una settimana che non torni a casa forse potresti prendere un giorno….." tentò di proporre
"El! Lasceresti Neal da solo con pile di documenti importanti?!" le ricordò; ad entrambi era presente l'avversione del ragazzo per le scartoffie sicuramente avrebbe trovato altro da fare senza supervisone.
La donna sospirò "Hai adottato un bambino pestifero!" sorrise e lui la baciò sulla guancia.
"Abbiamo adottato un bambino pestifero!" la corresse e si alzò sospirando per ritornare dal pericoloso e pestifero criminale che aveva preso in custodia.
La pila dei documenti sommergeva Neal che approfittava dell'impossibilità di vederlo da parte di Peter per ispezionare meglio la cavigliera.
"Neal!" lo richiamò Peter "Qualunque cosa tu stia facendo o pensando si fare a quell'affare lascia perdere!" lo ammonì.
Il ragazzo sorrise tra se e si chiese come lo avesse visto così nascosto dai documenti.
"Non sarebbe ora di allargarla?" chiese speranzoso.
"Si. Se tu fossi un cucciolo ora cresciuto" disse l'altro.
Neal approfittò del ritornò del silenzio per continuare ciò che stava facendo ma il poliziotto si alzò e lo colpì piano sulla testa con i foglio per poi riabbassare gli occhi sul fascicolo appoggiandosi alla finestra.
Neal sbuffò e si stiracchio sulla sedia come un gatto.
"Ma se ti da così fastidio come il lavoro a cui dovresti dedicarti proprio ora puoi sempre tornare….." lo rimbeccò senza smetter di fissare il fascicolo.
"Si da dove sono venuto….lo so…lo so!" sospirò.
Peter passò a Neal un altro fascicolo da leggere ma il giovane non smise di sbadigliare per tutta l'ora.
Il cellulare di Peter squillò e Neal lo prese curioso ma Peter glielo prese di mano contrariato della continua confidenza del detenuto.
Il poliziotto prese la giacca e lo guardò sorridendo "Sarà meglio che il lavoro che non hai fatto ora sia fatto quando al mio ritorno o non ti ritroverai con un solo gps addosso".
L'uomo si fermò solo per parlare con Lauren e poco dopo la donna si presentò con un carrello pieno di altri documenti.
Neal la guardò stralunato "Cosa?" dichiarò sconcertato.
La ragazza sorrise divertita "Me l'ha ordinato Peter prima di uscire!. Forse crede che tu abbia troppe distrazioni".
Neal non perse in suo self-control e le sorrise cogliendo la nuova sfida.
"Ah credo che ti abbia lasciato un biglietto" disse prima di andarsene.
Il ragazzo cercò tra i fogli e trovò un bigliettino che recitava 'Credo che dovrai lasciare perdere il pranzo oggi! Peter'.
La lenta analisi dei dati cominciò con uno sbuffo; doveva trovare ciò che non andava in un infinità di assegni che erano ipoteticamente falsi….inutile dire che gran parte dei documenti erano chiaramente falsi.
Gli sembrò che fosse una sorta di punizione per la sua ossessione per la sua cavigliera che ovviamente Peter non apprezzava dato che i file che il poliziotto aveva scelto erano tra i più noiosi mai visti in quei due mesi di lavoro.
Dopo una trentina di assegni falsi e al livello di ridicola fattura la sua attenzione si spense completamente e vago nei ricordi della sua precedente vita.
Per ottenere ciò che voleva bastava così poco; creare uno di quei piccoli foglietti o abbindolare una bella donna con un marito così ricco da lasciare il truffatore fuori dalle frontiere degli stati uniti per almeno un anno.
Non si era mai preoccupato per le sue vittime in fondo erano solo truffatori più grandi e meno furbi di lui; per lui erano soltanto numeri 0…come i soldi rimasti sul loro conto dopo che lui li aveva ripuliti!
Il brivido del suo "lavoro " era aumentato a dismisura quando Peter aveva preso il suo caso e aveva iniziato a dargli al caccia per la prima volta.
Si era considerato imbattibile ma con il tempo tutto era diventato più difficile e sapeva che Peter si stava avvicinando sempre di più.
Aveva immaginato la sua fine parecchie volte ma mai i volti distrutti delle persone che aveva rovinato e che aveva dovuto affrontare al processo.
Più di tutti loro aveva dovuto sopportare loro la delusione di Kate per lui e per se stessa incapace di non essere riuscita ad aiutarlo a cambiare vita...
"Non dovresti lavorare?" lo richiamò una voce a coscienza.
Neal si girò e vide Lauren appoggiata alla porta con le braccia conserte.
Il ragazzo sorrise mentre lei entrava nella stanza "Brutti ricordi?" chiese appoggiandosi alla scrivania e guardando distrattamente i fascicoli assegnati a Neal.
Il giovane si stiracchiò e tramutò la sua espressione pensierosa nel solito beffardo sorriso.
"Chi ha detto che sono brutti?" chiese.
Lauren roteò gli occhi con Neal ogni domanda non ha mai una riposta al massimo puoi ottenere un'altra domanda!
"Dai ti aiuto!" propose cercando di risollevare il morale della stanza.
Il ragazzo la guardò divertito "Non è che ti stai innamorando di me?" chiese.
La ragazza si avvicinò pericolosamente sfiorandogli la spalla con i capelli " I criminali non sono tra i miei amanti preferiti" e si allontanò velocemente sedendosi nel posto di Peter e cercando di non incontrare lo sguardo di lui per tutto il pomeriggio.
Finché con gli occhi stanchi e a turno finito si arresero alle decide di file cominciando a chiacchierare del più e del meno e dei modi assurdi in cui Neal era riuscito a scappare a Peter aspettando il ritorno il poliziotto.
Jones fece capolino un ora dopo "Ma voi non vi stancate mai?" chiese.
I due lo guardarono storto….Jones si stancava sempre subito.
"Ah Caffrey! Hughes ti vuole vedere?" si ricordò improvvisamente lui.
Gli occhi di Lauren lo fissarono insieme a quelli di Jones.
"Io non ho fatto niente" si difese alzando le mani.
"Chi non ha fatto niente?" intervenne una voce fuori campo e Peter entrò con le mani sui fianchi e sguardo severo.
E tutti lo osservarono.
"Dannazione Neal…!" cominciò a rimproverarlo ma il giovane si era già alzato e lo aveva oltrepassato senza starlo ad ascoltare.
"Neal" lo richiamò come un padre con il figlio disobbediente il ragazzo si voltò ridendo del comportamento del poliziotto e lo salutò con la mano beffardo per poi entrare nell'ufficio del capo.
Il giorno dopo Peter sedeva come al solito alla sua scrivania con una grande tazza di caffè a tenerlo lontano dal sonno che i noiosi documenti del caso su cui stava lavorando gli procurava; proprio quando stava per arrendersi Lauren entrò di corsa nella stanza con un foglio in mano e considerando il frastuono del piano di sotto non doveva nulla di buono.
Peter trattene il fiato e poi lesse il foglio.
Sbatté le mani sulla scrivania "Dannazione Neal!"……
