NOTE: Since the ending of White Collar I've noticed some of my older White Collar stories have been getting some love and I've been thinking about starting a new one for a while now.

This story is set post end of Season 5, with an Alternate Ending to Season 5...which will be explained at some point.

Don't worry all of my Whovian readers I am still working on Leviathan!

White Collar: All or Nothing

Chapter One

"I can't believe I'm doing this..."

Shaking his head sadly Neal laced his fingers into the large air vent grate and yanked it off. Standing on the industrial type roof top Neal cringed at the amount of noise the metal had made while coming free. He held his breath for a moment as he waited to see if the alarms would instantly be triggered by the sound. It was a cool clear night and although the moon was new there was plenty of light from the city to illuminate the scene.

Looking around at some of the taller buildings Neal felt exposed to prying eyes. Even though it was two o'clock in the morning one never could tell who was still awake. At this point getting called into the police by some random witness would be disastrous.

"Not to mention embarrassing."

Convinced that his rummaging on the roof had gone unnoticed Neal carefully slipped into the air conditioning system. He felt it was terribly cliche to be sneaking into the air ducts, but it was the weakest point of security of the museum. Moving through the metal ducts however was not as easy as the movies portrayed it to be. Wearing a pair of latex gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints along his path Neal crawled painfully slow through the narrow duct work. The hardest part was moving without banging against the metal walls. Even the softest touch seemed to echo through the hollow works.

Neal took his first opportunity to escape the duct system and ended up in the upper restoration room. Now inside he took a moment to collect himself. He reached up and rubbed at his right shoulder which was starting to bother him. Looking around he found that there was nothing of particular interest in the restoration room at the moment. Anything of value was taken off the work stations and placed in the vaults at night. Going over to the door Neal pressed his ear against it to check for anyone walking through the hall. Being a smaller facility there was only one guard.

Stepping out into the quiet hallway Neal made his way over to the stairwell. The door to the stairs held the first true obstacle in the form of a coded lock. Prying the front panel off Neal inspected the wiring. Tisking in disapproval of the simple system he clipped one of the wires and the door lock popped open.

"This is just sad, they might as well have left the place unlocked."

Not overly interested in looking a gift horse in the mouth Neal stepped into the stair well. Circling down to the second floor Neal peered through the small glass window in the door just in time to spot the guard walking by. Pressing himself against the wall he held perfectly still in hopes that he hadn't been spotted in return. The guard kept walking, the sound of his shoes against the marble floor receding into the distance. An earlier recon mission had revealed that the guard spent a majority of his time on the first and second floors of the museum where the displays were kept. He had a regular pattern that he walked so now that Neal knew where he was he had a good idea of when he'd be back.

While he waited for the guard to put some distance between them Neal clenched and relaxed his right hand to help with the tingling that was creeping into it. Shaking his hand out Neal did his best to ignore it. Suddenly wanting to get this job over with Neal left the safety of the stair well and crept out into the hall. He had the lay out memorized and quickly found the room that held the display that he was after.

There were two cameras in the room that swept back and forth slowly from their positions in the corners of the room near the ceiling. Neal had visited during the day and timed out their motions calculating the angles and blind spots. Whoever had set them up had done a decent job of covering the main display in the center of the room. Luckily it was one of the smaller cases off to the side that Neal was interested in and it was not nearly as well protected. Moving carefully through the room he stepped up to the case and started counting down in his mind the forty-seven seconds that he had before the camera swept back past.

"Hello, Beautiful..."

Neal chuckled as he peered down through the thick glass at the prize he was after. Working quickly he pulled out a small tactical knife and dug the tip into the seam of the black cabinet that the glass box was resting on. He cracked open the front facade and laid it on the floor. Inside the cabinet he was able to get a look at the security system that set off the alarm if the glass was moved. He had brought along a small variety of tool options to deal with the system once he knew what he was up against. In this case all he needed was a small strip of magnet which he happened to have.

Reaching up under the cabinet Neal felt out the small metal box that was on the underside of the cabinet. Hidden in the wooden lip that framed the glass box on top would be a magnet that rested over the metal box. Inside that box was a switch being held up by the magnet connected to the glass case. If the case was lifted the switch would drop completing a circuit that set the alarm off.

Neal slid the thin powerful magnet that he had brought under the wooden lip of the frame. The magnet that was already there helped pull the thin magnet into place as the pair stuck together. Using the knife Neal slid the blade between the two magnets to make sure the one he had placed would stay stuck over the switch while he lifted up the edge of the glass case. The magnet held the switch in place and Neal was able to tilt the box up and reached inside to claim his prize.

Closing his hand around the small golden object Neal picked it up off the velvet pillow. As he drew his hand back a sharp stab of pain like an electrical shock raced down his arm and forced him to drop the delicate work of art. Acting on instinct Neal released the glass case with his left hand and snatched the treasure before it could hit the ground and shatter. The case fell back into place with a bang that seemed to echo out into the hall. Neal winced at the sound, but the glass hadn't broken and the alarm didn't sound.

"Sloppy, Caffrey." Neal muttered to himself.

Placing the ill gotten goods into his pocket Neal pried the knife out from under the edge of the case leaving the thin magnet behind. Reaching up he rubbed at his shoulder and muttered a few choice words under his breath. The pain wasn't constant, but it did seem to have a way of flaring up at exactly the wrong time. Once again forcing it out of his mind Neal headed out of the room just as the camera came back around.

Getting out was a lot easier than getting in. Heading down to the first floor Neal went straight to the loading bay area in the back of the museum. The emergency exit was impossible to tamper with from the outside, but was easily disabled from the inside. Stepping out into the cool New York night Neal made a few mental notes on the over all security of the building or rather the lack there of.

"Nice night for it."

Neal jerked slightly at the sound of Peter's voice.

"Peter." Neal greeted as he turned around and offered Peter a bright smile. "Isn't it a little past your bed time?"

"Hours and hours."

"Well you didn't have to come out here, it could have waited until morning."

"I thought checking your pockets now might be a good idea."

"Peter," Neal said in a mock injured tone "I'm insulted."

"No you aren't."

Neal chuckled and reach into his pocket and pulled out the golden egg he had taken from the museum and handed it over to Peter. Peter held up the egg so that it caught in the cold white street light. Far from being encrusted in jewels the shell was bedazzled with garish glitter and a variety of plastic stones and sequins.

"Ah, it's beautiful." Peter admired

"It's...different." Neal rolled his eyes. "Did you decorate it yourself?"

"El helped."

"Of course she did. You going to keep it on your desk?"

"I might."

"In any case, the museum clearly isn't anywhere near ready to host the real Faberge Egg."

"Think you can have them ready within a week?"

"Probably not to the point where I can't get it, but certainly to the point to at least present a challenge."

Peter took a breath to say something but he thought better of it. A gust of cold wind swept through the alley they were in causing Neal to shudder. Neal's breath hissed across his teeth as his shoulder acted up again. Gritting his teeth he resisted the urge to reach up and press his hand against it, instead he slipped his hands into his pockets. Peter looked at Neal with a look of paternal concern.

"I'm fine." Neal said in an exasperated tone.

"I didn't say anything."

"You were going to."

"Are you sure you're all right?" Peter asked worried.

"I'm not answering that question again."

"If you need to ta..."

"Good night, Peter."

"...good night, Neal." Peter sighed.

Neal turned away from Peter and headed off down the street towards his apartment. He heard Peter offering him a ride home but he just waved him off. It wasn't far and the last thing he wanted right now was to be trapped in a car with Peter knowing that he was going to press the issue. He felt the walk home would help clear his head better than any uncomfortable conversation.

Getting to his apartment Neal had hoped that he would be tired, but looking around the empty room he found himself wide awake. It was three thirty in the morning, that time when it was too early to be up and too late to go to bed. Looking down at his jacket Neal noticed a shimmering gold dust against the black suit.

"Glitter...great." Neal grumbled. "This stuff is a nightmare."

Neal tried unsuccessfully to brush the glitter off his jacket for a minute before giving in. He shrugged it off and abandoning it on the floor. Feeling the all too familiar ache burrowing into his right shoulder again Neal reached up and rubbed at it. Going into the bathroom he opened the medicine cabinet and took out an orange pill container. Shaking two of the white pills into his palm he paused before doubling the dose to four. Tossing the medication past his teeth Neal turned on the tap and cupped his hand under the water to wash them down.

Bending down to drink from his palm Neal swallowed the bitter pills before splashing the cold water on his face. Reaching out blindly for a towel he pulled it off the near by rack and buried his face in it. Looking up into the mirror Neal became lost for a moment in his own reflection as his thoughts drifted to the past. Unbuttoning the top few buttons on his shirt Neal pulled it to the side to reveal the starburst scar that now marred his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, Rachel. It shouldn't have ended that way..."