Hello everybody! I'm back with a one-shot! This is supposed to be a fun piece, so don't expect a great storyline here. I tried my best to keep it in a way that makes sense, though.
And for those of you who don't know that already... My stories are not beta-read, so if you find mistakes... keep them. Unless it's a huge error. :)

Disclaimber: I don't own White Collar. That ownership goes to Jeff Eastin :) Am just borrowing his lovely characters for a little bit of fun.

A Hug for Neal

"What's this with you today? You're awfully happy." Peter asked when the two men stepped off the elevator on the 21st floor, then stopped at the glass double door that lead into the FBI's open-plan office.

"I'm not allowed to be in a good mood?" Neal countered, looking at Peter with raised eyebrows. "I thought I deserved to be happy."

"Yeah, you do, but not like that. This is getting annoying."
"Oh c'mon, Peter, it's World Hugging Day..."

"World-what?" Peter asked confused, looking into Neal's bright blue eyes, that were still sparkling cheerfully.
"World Hugging Day." Neal repeated. "You're supposed to share peace and hugs with everyone."

"What's the purpose of that?"

"Sharing some love and comfort, making people feel better."

"I share love with my wife." Peter replied, looking at Neal, before he entered the office, followed by his blue-eyed CI.

"That's not the same. You're supposed to hug everyone. Even total strangers."

"I don't hug anyone, now stop that nonsense."

"Oh, you're gonna hug me."

"No, I won't."

"Yes you will." Neal replied with one of his megawatt smiles, but the glare Peter gave him, quickly wiped it off his face, but a small mischievous smirk still remained tugged in the corner of his mouth.
"Stop it. We got work to do."

"Yes. I know." Neal said sheepishly and started walking up to the conference room. "You're still going to give me that hug, though." he added quietly, just to tease the older agent. And he loved teasing Peter, because he knew it drove him crazy if he did it right, but he also knew the line he better didn't cross.

Together they entered the conference room where the team was already waiting for them. They had been working on a case for the past week, that included a female thief named Patricia Goodman, who contacted Neal in search of a partner for the jewelry heist she was planning. Tonight was going to be the day. Neal was supposed to help Patricia clear out the Tiffany store she was working at. It sounded easy, right?

But there was a catch.

A few years ago, before Neal was arrested, he worked with her on a similar heist, but in the end she screwed him over. So, whatever it was they were doing, Neal would have to stay on guard to make sure that he didn't end up being screwed over again. Last time they worked together, Patricia disappeared with the stolen jewels and he was left behind empty-handed. It was one of those moments where Neal didn't mind helping Peter to catch her.
All that was left to do now was going over the details of the operation again.
While Neal was listening to Peter explain to everyone what was going to happen, he kept that small grin on his face just to tease Peter. He knew it would drive him crazy and it did, because every time Peter looked at Neal and saw that look on the blue-eyed man's face, he gave him a small glare in reply.

"The target is the Tiffany's on 5th Avenue. We'll be in the van at the end of the block, listening to everything that's going on through the transmitter Neal will be wearing. We'll be ready to move in the minute he lets us know they're leaving." Peter told the team, handing the transmitter watch to Neal, who put it onto his wrist. "I'll pull your anklet, but you better keep that watch on you at all times."

"Peter, I know the drill." Neal replied as confident as usual. "And I better get going or I'll be late."

Peter gave him a nod and removed the anklet for Neal then watched as the younger man walked to the door and then turned around again.

"I'll see you later." he said with one of his charming smiles.

"Good luck." Peter replied.

x ~X~X~X~X~ x

About an hour and half later, Peter, Jones and Diana were sitting in the van, listening as Neal and Patricia quietly entered the empty and dark Tiffany & Co. on 5th Avenue. Getting in wasn't that tricky, because Patricia had been working at this store. She knew the security there and all the codes they were going to need, except for the vault. That was where Neal came in. The vault door was locked with a combination of a key lock and a combination lock. Neal was in charge of cracking said vault. Patricia had been able to lift the vault-key from her boss and make an impression so she could get a copy, now Neal only needed to crack the combination of the lock and open the vault for them.

Easy, right?

Well, that was Neal's thought as he entered the room where the vault was. He looked at a silver fireproof vault door with the wheel for the combination lock in the middle of it. And inside the combination lock's wheel was a keyhole. Neal took a deep breath, being all alone inside the room, since Patricia had gone bagging everything she could take with her that wasn't locked up in the vault. Neal didn't mind that at all. That way he didn't have somebody looking over his shoulder, but he could work in peace. Still, Patricia would be joining him in a few minutes with the key to the vault and finish her job.
Neal let out the breath he didn't know he was holding and got a small device out of his pocket. He put his headphones on and held the device against the vault door, close to the combination lock. Neal slowly began to move the rotor listening carefully to the sounds it made. Trying to crack a safe was something that needed to be done with care and caution, especially if you were in a jewelry store with a partner you didn't quite trust.
There it was, the first click of a cylinder snapping into it's place. Four more to go. It actually wasn't that hard. Neal was still wondering why Patricia had wanted to team up with him, there had to be something else about this. But he knew that Peter was outside in the van, hearing everything that was said and right now he had to concentrate on getting this vault open.
And the second drop. This was going faster than Neal expected. Behind him he could hear Patricia walking up to him and stopping a few feet away, at least knowing to keep her mouth shut for as long as Neal was working the lock. And he had to say, he was thankful for that. But at the same time he felt a little uncomfortable, feeling Patricia's brown eyes on his back, watching him intently, while he was working. Maybe there really was something else to this job they were pulling.

A few minutes later Neal had cracked the combination for the lock and stepped aside, putting his equipment back into his pocket and watched as Patricia walked up to the vault door and unlocked it with the key. She pulled the heavy door open and stepped into the vault.
It was a small room, filled with a few shelves that held boxes of jewelry. Everything that wasn't on display was stored in here and it looked like it was a lot. This was quite the small fortune they were about to make, if they were to make it. Neal followed Patricia into the vault and was handed a bag.

"Fill it up." she told him while walked deeper into the small room and started to fill her back up with the jewelry boxes from the shelves.

Neal started to fill his bag with as many boxes as he could fit into it, which was a lot, considering the size of the bag Patricia gave him. And that added to the other bag that she had filled while he was working on the combination lock... yeah that temptation came back haunting him. This was quite a nice amount of money he could make, but his job at the FBI and the life he had here in New York kept him from giving in to those temptations. At least most of the time it did. If that didn't keep him, then Peter would. Neal turned around when he heard Patricia walking to the door of the vault just as he was about to close the bag he just filled. She had her back to him and something didn't seem right in that very moment.
When Patricia turned around he found his gut-feeling approved. The brown-eyed thief pointed a small handgun at him.

"A gun." Neal commented dryly., raising his eyebrows. "I thought today was World Hugging Day and not Point-A-Gun-At-Me-Day."

"Well, it is for you now, Caffrey." Patricia said. "No hugs for you. Hand me that bag."

"And if I don't? You gonna kill me?"

"Damn right I will."

"Screwing me over again. Just like old times." Neal said, hoping that Peter in the van would hear those last words, because that was the move-in-signal if something went wrong. And this was definitely something going wrong.

"I was surprised you agreed to this. Guess you're not as smart as you think you are."

"Or maybe I am."

"The bag Caffrey."

"Why don't you come in here and get it yourself? You have two healthy legs." Neal countered, looking straight into her brown eyes, that were now filled with a bit of anger. The result of his words was her cocking the gun and taking a step closer.

"I'm not in the mood for your games." Patricia hissed, slightly gritting her teeth. "The bag."

Neal thought he had heard the FBI entering the store and knew Peter would arrest Patricia as soon as they got to them. So he bend down and picked up the bag, then tossed it over to Patricia. He hated it when guns were pointed at him, but he hated it even more if his work would end up with the suspect getting away. Just as Patricia wanted to pick it up, there was the sound of footsteps coming closer. And fast. Patricia looked at Neal, who didn't move and then it hit her. He had tipped the cops or the feds off. He had to! A glare appeared on the woman's face and with a quick move she slammed the vault door shut and turned the wheel, locking Neal inside the vault. Patricia grabbed the bags and tried to make her way out of the building, through the back door, but as soon as left the room the vault was in, she was stopped by the FBI.

Peter waited a few minutes for Neal to show up, but he didn't. That was when he got worried. There also was no sound from the transmitter, so where the hell was he? Peter entered the room and saw that the vault door was closed and he frowned. Did that woman lock Neal inside the vault?

"NEAL!" Peter called out, hoping his CI would hear him, but there was nothing. Then he heard a pounding sound. And it was coming from the vault. So he really had been locked inside.

Peter walked back out of the room and up to Patricia. He looked pretty pissed off right now.

"What's the combination?" he asked her.

"I don't know." she replied and Peter knew she probably had no idea.

"Get the owner... I need to open that vault. NOW!" Peter told one of his FBI guys.

That could take a while. Peter was pacing back and forth in the room before the vault, actually worried about Neal. He had no idea how big this vault was, or if there was any kind of circulation system installed. Neal's life could be at stake right now.

"Hang in there, buddy... help is on the way." Peter said out loud, although he knew Neal probably didn't hear him.

And Neal really didn't hear a thing of what was going on on the other side of this door. He sighed heavily, leaning against the wooden side of a shelf and slid to the ground. What else could he do than wait until someone would find him.

x ~X~X~X~X~ x

It took an hour to get the owner of the store to come down and open that damn vault. Peter was slightly upset and anxious. He just wanted Neal out of this vault. He wanted to know if his friend was okay. And clearly being locked inside a vault was not okay. The moment the owner arrived, Peter had to explain to him what had happened and why the FBI was in his store. Although his mission was sanctioned, it seemed that the owner forgot about the information he was supposed to have about this operation.
Finally, after he was satisfied he opened the safe. And there he was, sitting on the floor and looking up at the door as it was opened. The light had been turned on and he had been blinded for a few seconds, but he was relieved. Being locked in a dark vault wasn't really something to enjoy.
Peter walked up to Neal and helped his younger CI off the ground. And when he was standing in front of him, Peter gently pulled Neal into a manly hug, glad to see that he was okay.

"Told you you'd be hugging me today." Neal said with a small grin on his face after he pulled back and looked at Peter.

"Oh, you did this on purpose." Peter countered, but there was a smirk on Peter's face.

THANK YOU EVERYONE for reading this story! I hope you liked it :) Again, it was just a fun piece I wrote for you guys to enjoy. Just something that popped into my head and that I have been working on all day. So please, be kind, okay? :)

I would love for you to leave a review for this one, though :) Promise, it's worth it!

And now, make sure you give everyone a hug, because January 21 it World Hugging Day! :) So, hugs to all my lovely readers! :)

AND THE LONG WAIT IS OVER! :) White Collar returns tomorrow/today :) I am so excited about it! Who else is?

blackrose538