Here's my new story! Sorry it took so long, but I had a little trouble finding inspiration, but I found it now!

I wanted to come up with some unique name, but I couldn't think of one, so I just played it off of the show's name. It's called White Collar, but since Neal is working in Organized Crime, that's what the name is. Brilliant, I know.

I wanted someone we could all relate to, so I made Hughes Ruiz's boss instead of Peter's.

To make things easier for you guys to imagine and for me to describe, Organized Crimes' office is going to look the same as White Collars. Office buildings do that anyway so it makes sense.

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An invisible thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break. -Ancient Chinese Proverb.

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Neal liked Agent Callahan - well, as much as someone like him could like an FBI agent that caught him and put him in prison for four years, then caught him again and put him back in prison - and after he arrested him for the second time, Neal hoped Callahan would consider letting him out of jail. Unfortunately, when he pleaded his case to the agent, he didn't take him up on the offer.

Neal tried everything short of begging on his hands and knees, but Agent Callahan just told him that he wouldn't risk his career on someone that would run the moment he had the chance.

That was fair, sort of. Neal needed to find Kate, but he couldn't do that with the FBI breathing down his neck. He would have stayed as long as he could search for her.

She waited for him for three years and seven months, and then she just leaves? Something just wasn't adding up and Neal was determined to find out why she left when they were going to be together soon. A wine bottle in a empty apartment can't be where their story ends.

Two weeks and fourteen more lines on the wall later, he got a visit from an agent by the name of Hughes. Agent Hughes saw the potential in having a criminal helping them out, so he offered Neal to be assigned to a man named Agent Ruiz. Neal couldn't say no - he just wanted out of prison. He would deal with who his handler was after that.

How bad could this Agent Ruiz be anyway?

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Neal couldn't really complain. He was out of prison, he had that going for him, but his handler was not what Neal expected, or wanted. The moment they met, Ruiz had told him, point blank, that he didn't want a criminal working with him. Hughes forced Neal on him and he couldn't say no. He didn't trust Neal and never will. It wasn't really a good start to a relationship, but Neal still tried to stay on his good side as much as he could so he could stay out of prison, and it was working so far.

The motel he was staying at was bleak, the no heat policy may become a problem when winter rolls around, but it wasn't a tiny cell for four more years, so he wasn't complaining.

Clothes from thrift stores were not what Neal would usually wear, but it's not like someone came in while he was there with an armful of Devore's or any other God-send like that. But he did have clothes, so there was no reason to complain.

Ruiz's distain also showed in the other agents in the division, almost like the agent told them to 'treat you like the criminal you are' as Ruiz had so pleasantly put it when they first met.

He didn't exactly expect a warm welcome, but he thought that they'd start liking him after a while, but they just kept giving him the cold shoulder. But that was nothing to complain about. He could deal with mean looks and snide remarks about his former profession. At least they gave him some nicknames like 'Conman Caffrey' or 'Snake Eyes' (Ruiz got that one from Neal's landlord and it's spread since then.) and his personal favorite, 'Pet Con.' That's been fun.

For the first few weeks, he couldn't get ahold of his partner in crime, Mozzie, so he couldn't really get any resources, like money. He had to spend the little amount of money he had those first weeks very carefully. It wasn't easy, but he managed without skipping too many meals. Not that he was complaining.

When he finally got ahold of his friend, Mozzie regretfully told him that he couldn't hack the anklet. But he had a two mile radius and, as he's been told, that's a lot in New York, so he couldn't complain about that.

He actually did try complaining a few times to Ruiz, but each one was answered with threats of prison, so he just shut up and put up.

All Ruiz seemed to trust him with was dull paperwork, coffee runs and sorting files. That was, until today. Ruiz, not so nicely, called from the top of the stairs for him to come to the conference room. He had never been called to the conference room before.

Happy to finally do something less menial, Neal quickly bounded up the short steps and into the conference room where many other agents had gathered already.

He smiled at the agents when he entered, but all he got back was the usual - glares from the mean agents and half frowns from the nicer ones.

One agent though, one he hadn't seen before, smiled at him and Neal was slightly ashamed to feel his heart warm from that.

But that was strange, he was obviously an FBI agent, if the terrible Brooks Brothers suit was any indication, and FBI agents did not like criminals. Though Neal suspected that the agent didn't know Neal was a criminal. It's not like he had it tattooed on his forehead, just his ankle. That was probably why he smiled. If he knew the truth, he would sneer like the rest of them.

There were no seats left to sit in so he went towards the back of the room and stood there. A few other agents were standing as well so he didn't feel too awkward about it. He figured Ruiz would want him out of the way anyway. The nice agent was standing, but he was in the front of the room, by the flat screen on the wall.

Ruiz and Hughes walked in and everyone quieted down and Neal wondered which agent they were afraid of or respected. Ruiz and Hughes also stood by the TV.

"New case everyone," Hughes said and slapped down a large stack of files on the table. The agents sitting at the table spread the files around to the agents standing up. Neal wasn't surprised, but still a little hurt, that he didn't get one.

"Eddy Mendez," Hughes said and pressed a button on the remote he had in his hand. An image of a large Hispanic man with multiple tattoos covering his body appeared on the TV behind the three agents. "He's popped back up on our radar, but this time he's bringing in paintings instead of weapons. That's why White Collar was brought into this," Hughes said then looked over to the nice agent. "This is Agent Burke, he's going to be helping us take Mendez down."

"Caffrey," Ruiz barked, "read up on Mendez. You're going undercover with Burke."

Neal knew that none of the agents trusted him as far as they could throw him, so he was surprised and excited to hear he was going undercover to bring down someone that was making the streets a more dangerous place. He didn't think that he would be doing anything like that for a long time, if ever.

"Yes, sir," Neal said. Neal liked the idea of working with Agent Burke. He seemed like a good guy so far. Besides, White Collar crimes were definitely his area of expertise, especially compared to Organized Crimes.

Neal was excellent at reading body language and facial expressions, so he could tell that Ruiz and Burke didn't like each other. But while Ruiz's contempt was obvious, Burke's was more subtle.

After finally getting ahold of a file, Neal found out that Eddy Mendez was not a guy to mess around with. He's brutal in his ways and does some pretty gruesome things to the people that double-cross him. He's one of the top guys in the gun market in New York, but he doesn't just sell guns - he can get you anything from simple hand grenades to land mines. Not something the FBI wants on the streets.

Apparently Neal and Agent Burke were going to go undercover as a buyer and his assistant, and Neal was happy to see he was going to be the buyer. He didn't doubt the agents abilities to work a con - or a sting, as it were - but since he knew what to look for when authenticating the painting, he was the man for the job.

After memorizing the important details of the file, Neal went back into the conference room to ask Ruiz what his next task was. Agent Burke and a very attractive African-American woman were in there as well. They were going over some papers on the large glass table and whatever they were talking about, they were discussing it too quietly for Neal to hear.

"I want you wired up. The meetings in a hour," Ruiz said while pointing a degrading finger at Neal.

"How did you set that up so fast?" Neal asked, then a thought suddenly came to him. "You've been planning this for a while." It wasn't a question.

"Wow, you really do catch on quick, Caffrey," he said sarcastically. "Yeah, we've been setting this meet up for a while."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you didn't need to know - you're just a criminal consultant." Ruiz said those words like he was talking about a bug under his shoe - not even worth stepping over.

"Well, I think if you told me sooner, I would have been able to help," Neal said.

"We didn't need your help. Just do what you're told and don't mess this up," Ruiz said shortly.

Neal figured that Agent Burke was at least partially listening to their conversation, and he supposed it wouldn't matter if the agent was in the same room while he talked about his anklet. He would find out about his rap sheet eventually anyway, if he hadn't already. And why does it even matter what the agent thought about him anyway?

"I'm just saying, I might know a few things you guys don't, like the fact that people like Mendez go through a lot of security checks to make sure the person they're meeting with isn't wearing a wire or has a gun, so don't you think you should take off my anklet for this? I'd hate for them to see it and blow the whole op."

"I don't think so, Caffrey," Ruiz said. "I'm not giving you a chance to make a run for it. You're just going to have to deal with it."

"They're going to pat me down, sir, and they're going to find the anklet," Neal said.

"The kids' right, Ruiz," Agent Burke suddenly said. Apparently he actually was listening in the whole time.

Wait, kid? He's thirty years old - he's not a kid.

"I'm his handler, Burke, so I get to choose what to do with Caffrey," Ruiz said angrily.

"That may be, but I'm going undercover with him, so it's my butt on the line if they figure out we're FBI," Burke said.

Apparently they were going to just talk about him like he wasn't in the room with them. But he supposed that was okay as long as he got his way.

Ruiz stared Burke down for a long minute before throwing a hand up and looking away. "Fine, we'll cut the tracker. But if he runs, it's on you," he said, looking at the agent again and pointing a finger at him.

"You're not going to run, right, kid?" Agent Burke said with a crooked smile.

Neal gave the agent his best conman smile. "Of course not, sir," he said sincerely. If he was going to run, he'd wait until Mendez was behind bars.

"Good," Burke said with a smile and a nod. Him and the agent that was with him left the conference room.

The moment the two agents were out of sight, Ruiz slammed Neal against the wall and pushed an arm against Neal's throat. He lowered his voice to a threatening whisper. "That's the last time you make a fool of me in front of another agent, ya' hear me?"

Neal nodded almost frantically. He wanted to push Ruiz's suffocating arm away, but he didn't dare move.

"You'd better learn your place and not mess this operation up or you'll be on your way back to the big house before daybreak."

Neal swallowed hard around the restricting arm and nodded again even though Ruiz didn't actually ask a question.

"Good," he said, then pushed harder against Neal's throat. "Don't make me tell you again."

Neal was starting to get light-headed and black dots started dancing across his eyes, but he still waited for Ruiz to pull away. Fortunately Neal's was saved when Agent Burke and two other men came into the room. Ruiz pulled away before anyone could see what was happening.

Neal tried to act like his boss wasn't just choking him, but it was hard not to gasp for breath. He did manage not to rub his neck, though.

Neal knew Ruiz was hotheaded, but he didn't think he'd actually attack one of his colleagues. Of course Neal wasn't a colleague - he was a criminal, a tool in their belt, so it was okay to knock him around a bit to get their point across, right?

"Ready to get wired up, Caffrey?" Burke asked, apparently not noticing that anything was wrong.

Ruiz gave Neal a hard look, wordlessly telling him not to say anything about their altercation.

Neal cleared his throat and forced a smile on his face. "Yeah." His voice wasn't as raspy as he thought it would be. That was good - he didn't want to sound like he had laryngitis during the meet with Mendez.

Neal acted like everything was fine while him and Burke got wired up and went to the meeting spot.

Everything was riding on this op, so Neal was not going to mess it or his limited freedom up by tattle-tailing.

And there's the first chapter! The next one should be up in a few days, but I'm not sure when I'll have anymore after that as I haven't even written anymore.

Things will get more exciting in the next chapter, you just wait!

Reviews make me smile!