Neal Caffrey sat in the ICU waiting room in a hard plastic chair by the window. He squeezed his hands together in effort to stop the shakes that moved them but the tremors didn't subside. If anything, they got worse as each minute passed without news on how his best friend was. He nervously moved his left leg up and down, feeling his anklet wiggle around as he did so. He looked down at the floor, seeing only horrible images of his best friend bleeding to death, and occasionally directed his gaze at the people he set himself so far away from when they arrived at the waiting room.
On the other side of the waiting room sat Peter and Elizabeth Burke, Diana, and Jones. When they walked into the waiting room with Neal, the ex-conman made it a point to sit as far away from everyone as possible. Peter shot an annoyed and angry look Neal's way, but with a slap from Elizabeth he quickly dropped it. The four of them sat on the opposite wall across the waiting room facing Neal. Diana and Jones talked quietly to each other and Elizabeth looked between Neal and her husband. Peter glared at Neal until Elizabeth hit him on the arm and signaled with her head to speak with him out in the hall. Peter rolled his eyes, but stood and followed his wife out in the hall. Diana and Jones watched the married couple leave and once the door shut, they shifted their gaze at Neal but quickly dropped it when Neal returned their gaze with his.
Ten minutes later Peter returned to the waiting room without his wife. He made a gesture towards his two agents signaling they needed to leave. They complied, which left Peter alone in the waiting room with Neal. Peter stood by the door, with his hands on his hips, refusing to look at Neal.
If was possible for Neal to become more nervous, it happened when he was left alone in the waiting room with Peter. He gulped and kept his head down. He knew Peter was going to tear into him for everything he had done, but he was so close to breaking already, due to the fact he might lose Mozzie, that the second Peter started yelling at him he was positive that the walls he has held up for years would become ashes. But it didn't happen. Peter didn't yell at him. Instead, his voice was low and calm when he broke the silence between them.
"Do you have any idea what you came so close to doing?" Peter asked still not looking at Neal.
"Peter, I-" Neal began softly, but the agent cut him off.
"Don't. You have no idea. You're mind is so clouded right now. All you can think about is getting revenge. You don't care about anything else. Nothing else matters to you." Peter stated calmly, now facing the younger man, but not moving closer.
"Peter, that's not true, I-" Neal stopped himself this time, unsure of what to say.
"Did it ever occur to you that if you killed Fowler you would not only be killing him but other people as well?" Peter asked now standing in front the ex-conman. Neal swallowed nervously and looked up at Peter in confusion.
"W-What are you talking about?" Neal asked.
"If you had pulled that trigger…. You would have not only killed Fowler but everyone else too. Kind of like killing seven birds with one stone so to speak." Peter stated sadly, looking down at the younger man.
"What….do you mean?" Neal asked not fully understanding what Peter was saying.
"If you killed Fowler… you would've also killed yourself, killed June, killed Jones and Diana, killed Elizabeth and most of all…. killed me." Peter specifically left out Mozzie due to their current situation. "We all have tried so hard to keep you on the straight and narrow, to give you a new life away from crime. We all know you aren't a killer, we know what a good person you are, Neal. But you were about to let revenge take all of that away! All of us would have lost you, and that is something none of us ever want to have to go through." Peter stated sincerely, but he was shocked at Neal's reaction. Neal's head shot up.
"Oh! Losing me would just be awful wouldn't it! It would just be SO terrible to lose your consultant, wouldn't it?" Neal mocked. He didn't expect Peter's reaction.
Peter squatted down so he was eye level with Neal, his elbows resting on his thighs.
"Look at me." He ordered, but not in a hateful manner. Neal didn't comply.
"Look. At. Me." Peter said, leaving no room for Neal to disobey. Neal slowly lifted his head to look at the agent.
"It wouldn't be terrible to lose my consultant." Peter said softly. Neal was about to hang his again as Peter's words lashed out at him, but Peter continued before he dropped his gaze.
"It would be terrible to lose my partner, my best friend. Neal, sometimes I just want to throttle you. You just do things without thinking and you usually end up putting yourself in danger and…. It scares the living hell out of me. When I saw you with that gun….. Neal, I thought….. I thought I was going to lose you for good. Neal….. I know it is hard. You won't tell anyone but we all know how this is eating away at you. Neal, it is ok to feel the way you do. But it isn't okay to act the way you did. Killing the man that killed Kate and did this to Mozzie, isn't going to change anything! It's only going to hurt you more in the end and the people who care about you. You've lost a lot, I know that, but don't lose yourself. There are people that need you. I need you." Neal looked at Peter with disbelief.
"D-do you really mean that?" Neal asked in such a small, childlike voice it took Peter a second to realize it was Neal who spoke.
"Yeah, I do." Peter said as he stood up to stretch his legs. He sat down by Neal with a sigh.
"Peter….. I-…I'm….scared." Neal whispered as he let his head fall in his hands. His shoulders shook, but he refused to let the tears in his eyes fall, in front of Peter. Peter grimaced at the uncomfortable situation that arose, but he knew that he had to do something. Taking a deep breath, he wrapped his right arm around his best friend and pulled him to his chest.
Neal tensed as Peter pulled him close, but once his head was against Peter's chest, he felt all the walls crumble around him. A few tears rolled down his cheeks slowly and dripped onto Peter's shirt. He sniffled and closed his eyes as Peter rubbed a hand up and down his arm and spoke softly to him.
"I know, Buddy….. I know. It'll be okay. Everything will be alright."
Peter felt wet droplets on his shirt and closed his own eyes for a second. He knew the kid was falling apart and it broke his heart. He heard the younger man sniffle a few more times and was slightly startled when Neal reached out and grabbed a fistful of his shirt but he knew why the younger man was holding onto him.
"Hey… hey… It's alright. I'm right here, Buddy. I'm not going anywhere." Peter said softly as he continued to hold Neal close to him and rub his hand up and down Neal's arm.
Neal faintly relaxed as Peter spoke to him, but still held on to the older man, his protector, his guardian, his safe haven. Suddenly he felt another gentle hand on his back and knew it belonged to Elizabeth. He felt exhaustion tugging at him and he wanted nothing more than to go to sleep since he felt safe and secure for the first time in days. "Please…..stay." Neal quietly pleaded with the man and woman, who had practically became his father and mother.
"We aren't going anywhere, Honey." Elizabeth replied motherly as she rubbed his back.
Neal rolled his head further into Peter's chest and the agent tightened his arm around the younger man to prove to Neal they weren't going to leave him, the boy who had become their best friend and son.
AN: Just a one shot... I just wanted to add a tag to Point Blank where Peter wasn't mad at Neal and Mozzie isn't dead :) Let me know what ya think!