A/N: I am supposed to be studying so of COURSE I ended up doing anything but that.
DISCLAIMER: White Collar is the property of USA network. Neither the show nor Neal belongs to me. Life sucks, eh?
This story is un-betaed. All mistakes are mine. Please feel free to point them out.
Neal had never liked rain. He hated the way the water seeped through his clothes, soaking him completely. The way cold engulfed him, freezing his bones to the marrow within their core. He hated the way his body betrayed its weakness, shivering relentlessly to get warm again. He absolutely hated the after effects of standing in the rain, the way he got sick because the clouds above decided it was time to give a giant 'Screw you.' to the humans below in the form of miserable, wet weather. Neal Caffrey hated rain, and yet here he was deliberately standing on the roof of a hospital in an autumn downpour trying to clear his head.
He hated rain, yet at this very moment he wanted to punish himself and apparently standing in the freezing rain was the way to go about it. Peter could have died today and it would have been his fault. If Peter had died, he would never forgive himself. If Peter had died, a part of Neal would have died along with him.
Neal was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice someone behind himself until they spoke.
"It wasn't your fault." Diana's tone was sympathetic.
"What are you doing here?" Neal spoke in a monotone.
"Neal, it wasn't your fault that Peter got shot."
"You don't know that." She felt her heart twist as his voice shook slightly. She was used to a calm and collected Neal, this man in front of her was anything but collected. Though his face was an emotionless mask, his eyes held the turmoil he was experiencing. A combination of anguish and guilt at something that was out of his hands, that was not within his hands to begin with.
"Peter knew what he was doing." She stepped closer to him so that he was shielded from the relentless rain under the umbrella she held.
"If I had stayed in the car like he told me to…"
"Then Peter would have been dead anyway. Scofield would have shot him and you wouldn't have been there to put pressure on the wound and call for help. Peter would have bled out." She said matter of factly even as her heart ached at the thought of her boss being dead- Neal needed to know this to pull him out of whatever dark place he was burrowing himself in.
"Diana-." He choked out, "Scofield was aiming for me. Peter jumped in front of me."
"I know, Neal. I know. But Scofield needed a distraction. I told you, he would have shot Peter to get away anyway."
"He stopped breathing, Diana." A tear rolled down his cheek, his facade crumbling as he remembered just how close to death his best friend has come. The terror that had shook him to the core as he had pressed his lips to Peters, blowing air into his friends lungs. As his best friends blood coated his hands from where he was pressing on the wound. There had been so much blood .
He looked so young then, with his normally coiffed hair plastered across his pale face. His expression so young and lost that she would have given him a hug had she not been holding the umbrella over their heads. She settled for squeezing his arm instead.
"He's okay now. You both are. Now come on inside, the doctors said we could see him now. That's what I came here to tell you."
"Thanks, Di." He gave her a small smile.
"You're welcome." She smiled back as she steered him gently towards to door leading inside.
"Oh and I found your hat." She said, procuring his fedora and placing it atop her head, eliciting a laugh from him. Yes, he would be alright.
A/N: Thank you for reading. My brain keeps procuring all these random scenarios whenever I sit down to study these days -_- So I end up typing like a mad-woman to get them out of my head :p Please leave behind a review if you can. Reviews feed the author. :)