I know I'm a bad person who should be working on my other story. For those who have read Hopeless I beg forgiveness. I was in the Philippines with a laptop but no internet and this popped into my head and I just had to jot it down. Please remember that this is fan fiction so almost everything said I made up. I do not own any of the shows that show up.

CM

"There are a series of robberies occurring in New York, we are to go there and assist the White Collar Unit in their investigation." said Hotch. He was standing the BAU conference room addressing his team, Rossi, Morgan, Reid, Emily, JJ, and Garcia.

"Robberies? Hotch this doesn't seem like our kind of job. There is no evidence of violence or escalation into violence. The unsub seems to have found his pattern and is sticking to it" argued Morgan

"I agree, but Strauss thinks we need a break from serial murders, especially after the trauma from George Foyet. Beside this could be a great opportunity, the mind of a professional white collar criminal has never been explored thoroughly."

"Exactly Hotch, we will be shooting the dark with this job. We have nothing to reference." Reid added.

"We won't be completely in the dark. The unit we are working with has a criminal informant working with them. He is on some sort of work release program for the next four years. And they are also consulting with a group of professionals, Leverage Consultants and Co." explained Hotch.

"If they already have all this extra help then why are we going there? There has to be a better way to use our resources" asked Emily.

"We are not really going there to help with the case. Like a said, the mind of a career white collar criminal is still unknown. We are being sent on a research mission of sorts to try and get some more information."

"That's not all" Garcia said, speaking for the first time that meeting "When I heard about this assignment I did some digging on my own. After what happened with George Foyet the higher ups doubt your ability as a team. I work for the entire floor so I'm pretty safe. This assignment is to see if you guys are going to be split up. The only reason I am going is because they thought I needed a break and this would be the best way to keep me from hacking in and working anyway."

"They are going to break up the team?" asked Reid.

"NO they are not. This case will be the perfect opportunity to show that our team still works together and we will have the opportunity to gather new knowledge" Hotch said trying to comfort his youngest member. When everybody nodded Hotch continues "Go home and pack some more clothes. We have no idea how long this will take. Wheels up in two hours."

Leverage

"Hardison, run it." Nate said formally starting the meeting taking place in his apartment/Headquarters. "Our clients are the FBI. There have been a string of robberies occurring in New York. From the pattern the perpetrator seems to be Mark Abbott."

Hardison cut in "Mark, that man only hits the big leagues man. We help out the little people, those who can't help themselves. We are modern day Robin Hood's man, why are we helping out the Kings and Queens?"

"Because, this has the opportunity to be very good for all of us. If tomorrow goes down right we are looking at major awards." Nate explained.

"I don't know Nate, this could ruin our reputations. If we suddenly change our pattern it could bring a lot of problems for us. Everyone who knows who we are leaves us alone because they know we don't go after those types of thieves. If word gets out that we took down someone who doesn't really hurt anybody then all those who ignore us would see us as enemies and try to destroy us." Argued Sophie.

"Don't worry I've already taken care of that. I contacted Mark and told him the FBI hired us. He wants to help us get those rewards I told you about. He is going to continue as normal, maybe try to make things a bit more difficult, and we have to break him out when we catch him, but it won't hurt our reputation."

"So he's going to let himself be captured" Parker asked, tilting her head to the side.

"No, he is going to try and stay free. We will have a bit of a handicap because he knows we are coming. I just made sure this wouldn't come back and harm us later. But it's as I told you guys with the Moreau case, I won't force you. So do you want to do this?"

"If you say that the rewards outweigh the risks then I'll do it" Elliot agreed. Everyone looked up in surprise "What? The only thing he never lied about was the rewards of the job"

"You know what, Elliot is right. I'm in too" agreed Hardison "Just one question. Who are we working with?"

"The White Collar Unit"

"Oh I'm in! I'm in! I want to see Neal again" Parker exclaimed, jumping up and down in excitement.

"How about you?" Nate asked looking at Sophie.

"I don't know Nate. It still seems really risky."

"True, it is risky. But it will also be a lot of fun. The BAU were also called onto the case. Think of how much fun you could have with a group of professional profilers. You should come, if only to see how badly you can throw them off. It's a matter of professional pride."

Sophie was still hesitant but in the end her pride won out and she nodded her consent. "Now that we are all on the same page I want to discuss our entrance. For the ultimate awards we need our introductions to go well tomorrow."

WC

I looked up to see a group of people standing by the elevator. Peter had been in Hughes's office for the better part of the day arguing about jurisdiction or something. Office politics that I usually go through great lengths to avoid. They must be the outside group coming in. There were seven of them, three women four men; they were looking toward a tall somber white male for guidance, probably the team leader. They looked around with a mixture of anxiety and impatience; probably used to the local team already working the case greeting them with hostility. I stood and walked over to the group, pulling out the badge Peter gave me when my consulting became official along the way.

"Hello, I'm Neal Caffrey" I said showing them my badge in a flippant manner. "You must be the outside group being brought in."

The somber guy stepped forward "I'm Supervisory Special Agent Hotchner. This is my team SSA's Rossi, Morgan, Prentiss, Jareau, Dr. Reid and our technical analyst Penelope Garcia"

I smiled and waved them into the office. "Welcome to the New York White Collar Unit. Allow me to give you a quick tour. Here we have the bullpen, the archive is to the left, coffee machine is just past that" I said leading through the room and up the stairs "here is he conference room to the right is Agent Burkes office and to the left is Supervisor Hughes's office" As they got settled in the conference room I could tell my spontaneous tour had thrown them off balance, just as I intended. They probably weren't use to a cordial greeting that wasn't laced with desperation and probably were used to just diving into the case. It looked like the unit leader and the blonde female were the only ones used to dealing with the general pleasantries.

"So…art robberies. Big change from the murders you usually have to deal with." I smiled on the inside as they visibly tried to recover. Definitely not used to pleasantries then.

The Doctor spoke first "Yeah, we decided to have a small change of pace. Beside the mind of a white collar criminal is fascinating. It has never been…"I noticed the small glare Morgan gave him when Reid mentioned a change of pace. Not their decision then; most likely a traumatic case and higher ups who question their abilities to work. I also noticed how the team seemed amused at how much the young doctor could talk. I keep my face interested so that nobody would interrupt him for my sake. They seemed to humor his rants, he's probably the youngest and weakest on the team, must be why he was introduced as doctor, so I wouldn't automatically discount his opinion because of his age.

The others were getting annoyed so I cut in at the appropriately polite moment "Really, that is fascinating."

Hotch asked "So, how far are you on the case? We would like to get started soon."

I smiled politely "We haven't started yet. Our case leader has been in meetings all day, he should be out soon and we can get started." They looked annoyed but couldn't speak up because they didn't know how White Collar worked. We spoke for a few more minutes and I could see that they were all on my side, hopefully that held up when Peter walked into the room.

He burst in the room and cast a distasteful eye over everyone else but kept his expression otherwise neutral. "You guys from the BAU?" he didn't quite manage to keep his anger out of his voice. Perfect, even with my less than perfect past they will still be more liable to trust me. I noticed a quick expression pass over Prentiss's face but she regained control of her expression the fastest, she was used to undercover work.

Hotch stood and offered his hand. "Yes, this is my team. You're agent was just showing us around and helping us settle in."

Peter was quick to correct him "Neal isn't an agent. He is our criminal consultant." He then turned to me "You do know impersonating a federal agent is considered breaking our agreement and you could go back to jail. Right?"

I simply smiled. "I didn't impersonate an agent. I simply showed them my badge, which you gave to me by the way, and told them my name. The lovely agents here assumed I was an agent."

"I only gave you that badge to keep you from forging one. And you knew they would draw that conclusion. That is why you flashed the badge."

"Correct. But I still didn't do anything illegal"

Rossi stood up at that "Wait a minute. How did we spend all that time with Mr. Caffery and not know he was a criminal. It's our job to read people and he didn't come across as the least bit untrustworthy"

"I am just very good at what I do."

The undercover agent spoke up then "It's not just that. We have met other people who are very good at what they do. They come across as trustworthy and kind to most people and we have always been able to tell."

I sighed at that "You guys are used to dealing with murders. They just need to fool the victim for a short period of time. They can afford to create completely different personalities. My identities need to last for month's maybe years. I assign a few personality traits and let the people I'm talking to create my personality for me. By the time we walked through the doors into the bullpen you already created my personality for me. I just picked up on the cues you gave me and showed you what you were expecting to see. Every time I deviated from the person you decided was me you guys would give very obvious cues and made a small alteration so my personality could blend seamlessly and you guys forgot about the minor transgression. By the time Peter got here I knew exactly what you expected from me and could have kept up the ruse for the entire duration of our partnership, if Peter hadn't spoiled my fun. And now you're all frightened because of how easily I manipulated you. Sorry about that."

Peter sighed at the end of my monologue "Don't worry we are bringing in an outside company. You don't have to worry about working with Neal too closely."

I perked up at that "Who are we working with?"

"Leverage Consultants and Company"

And there went my good mood. I knew who they were; everyone in the criminal circuit knew who they were, except for those who thought they were above everyone. I was excited to see Parker again but knew I would be blamed when the truth came out. "Peter, you can't trust them."

"Why not? Are they violent?"

"No, but they are…"

"Have you worked with them in the past?"

"No, but…."

"Does Mozzie trust them?

"Most of them yes. Well as much as Moz trusts but…"

"In that case I don't see the problem."

I was getting tired of Peter not allowing me to finish my sentences. I had a room full of witnesses to state that I did indeed try to warn him. I decided to try one last time before giving up. "Peter, read whatever they try to have you sign. Don't trust them they…"

At least it wasn't Peter who interrupted this time, it was Hotch "No offence Mr. Caffery but you are the one we don't trust considering you just admitted to manipulating all of my team. How do we know this is not more manipulation?" Peter must still be mad about that little ruse because he didn't defend me.

"Fine, so what is the case?"

"It is late and the other team aren't coming in till nine a.m. tomorrow. We'll go over everything then, feel free to enjoy the night."

I could see that the BAU was annoyed at the case being put off but couldn't argue. I nodded my consent and bid everyone good night and went home. Tomorrow was going to be interesting at least.

A.N. Heading this off now. I know people will be angry over how quickly Neal picked up on everything. But really he was know as the best con man for a reason. In order to survive for as long as he did then Neal must have been able to read and manipulate people very well. This is my headcannon!Neal. Don't hate.