NOT AGAIN
AN: This is a tag to the Season 5 Season Finale. I am still not happy with the relationship between Neal and Peter. There is hope, of course, since Peter will be staying in NYC. But you have the 'gestures' of the hug in the office and the conversation between El and Peter over Neal getting off anklet, for me, it just seemed 'too little, too late.'
Having said all that…Thank God for Fan Fiction and Alternative Universes. So…On With The Show!
June had called Mozzie after discovering that Neal had not come home the night before and now it was 10 a.m. and they still had no idea where Neal was.
"We really should call Peter, Mozzie."
"No suits! No suits!" Mozzie said, vehemently.
"We don't…have you found out anything yet?" June asked, referring to Mozzie's street contacts.
Mozzie shook his head. "No suits, June. I just. I don't want the kid in prison again."
"He didn't run, Mozzie." June replied. "He wouldn't leave without you. We both know that. And besides, didn't a few suits just save your…."
Mozzie looked at June. "You do not play fair, Ms. Wellington." He sighed. "Okay."
June then picked up the phone and dialed.
It was information that White Collar and the U.S. Marshals already knew. Neal, they thought, had left his radius and was headed to New Jersey, at a very high rate of speed. The Marshals soon tracked 'Neal' down. 'He' was in the back of Venito Sanchez's pickup truck in the form of a broken anklet.
Peter held both pieces of the anklet in his hands, and his blood ran cold. This was not Neal's style. First of all, he would have waited until he was further away to remove his anklet. And, secondly, he wouldn't have forcibly removed it. He would have fashioned a 'key' of some sort.
Peter's phone rang as he looked at the anklet. He put the pieces down and took out his phone. June. How was he going to tell June that something had happened to Neal?
"Agent Burke." Peter answered.
"Peter…Neal…he's...he's not here. He didn't…I came upstairs this morning. He's not here." June blurted out. She hadn't meant to do that.
"June." Peter said, trying to calm her down. "June…June…. He…we found Neal's anklet…in the back of a pickup truck bound for Jersey."
"Why would Neal be in the back of a pickup truck bound for Jersey?" June asked.
"Not Neal, just his anklet." Peter explained.
"He didn't run, Peter." June stated.
"I don't think so either, June."
"No, Peter. He. Did. Not. Run." June paused. "Mozzie is right here with me. Neal wouldn't have left without him."
"And…" Mozzie chimed in, loud enough for Peter to hear. "…there are certain…things that he would have taken with him when he left. They are all still here."
Peter felt the ice creep into his heart a little more. If Neal had been taken then…. Then he didn't know. Peter took the opportunity to question both June and Mozzie over the phone.
Peter learned what Neal had told Mozzie about going straight. Mozzie told Peter where he had left Neal. But, of course, Mozzie left out the part where he and Neal discussed removing the anklet.
WC WC WC WC WC
Neal was not at all sure where he was. But he knew he was in trouble. He had been kidnapped, and without that anklet, Peter would have no way to track him. They had also taken his cell phone. They had not really explained anything to him. And he didn't recognize the guy who appeared to be in charge; the guy from the park, the guy who had followed him on the street.
"I'm guessing you're wondering what this is about?" The guy said. "I need you to do a job for me."
"I don't do that anymore." Neal stated.
"I am in need of your…assistance. And I can provide you with certain…motivations to do what I want." The man replied.
"I don't…."
"June has been so…nice to let you live in her place." The man said. He smiled. "And Mozzie's been such a good friend."
Neal tried to move, to protest. But he had been tied to a chair, and the ropes were tight. "You can't…." He said, shaking his head.
"It'd be ashamed if something happened to that cute little baby. Theo, I think Diana has nicknamed him." The man paused. "My name is Samual Gates. And like I said, I have a job for you to do. If you care, at all, about the people I just mentioned you will do just as I ask.
TBC
