Hello everyone! So, this cross-over is the product of the my and WingedFlight's minds one night in early July last year, and we finally got it finished this past summer.

It's set in the second half of Chuck season 4, and the second half of White Collar season 2 (even though there are no mentions of the music box).

We hope you enjoy it. And now it starts!

Disclaimer-WingedFlight and I do not own White Collar or Chuck...otherwise there would've been cross-over episodes :D

It had been a long day of mortgage fraud and extortion cases, and all Neal Caffrey wanted to do was sit down and relax. He had it all planned out in his mind: The evening would begin with a light supper, to be followed by a tall glass of champagne and a thick book out on the balcony. The former conman was caught up in his planning as he unlocked the door to his apartment but even so, he noticed the envelope on the table with his name on the front.

In fact, it was the first thing to catch his eye, conspicuous as it was against the dark wood of the table. He knew it hadn't been there when he'd left that morning, and it unnerved him as to how it got there in the first place. Mozzie - but no, Mozzie had taken June to an out of town book signing and neither of them would be back until evening.

It was no use theorizing. Deciding to get the suspense over and done with, Neal walked over to the table and opened the envelope. The letter said:

Zemliia (Earth)
Bohdan Pevny
Return or suffer the consequences.
-Caelum

Even when his hand tensed, Neal didn't crumple the paper; he'd handled enough bond certificates and art forgeries to train himself to avoid such actions. Zemliia...Neal barely remembered the painting. That was the man in the field, wasn't it? No, woman. Ukrainian artist. Not worth enough for him to steal, but whomever had left the note clearly believed he had. Why would he have stolen it? Neal crossed to the balcony, racking his brain for long discarded memories.

-x-

"Anton Chekov is brilliant, Neal - you should have come! What a master of literature! What an amazing guy! I shook his hand, you know - June shook his hand, too. She said she wouldn't ever wash it again, but I think she was just being nice. She said that to me when we first met, didn't she? Or was that later? I can't remember. Neal? Neal, are you listening?"

Neal shook himself. "Yeah, Moz. And you know that Anton Chekov is dead, right?"

"A true man of literature never dies. And you know who said that?"

"Anton Chekov?"

"No. I did. As you'd know if you'd ever read Chekov."

"Yeah, right Moz. I have to go."

Neal often prided himself as an observant man, but he barely even noticed the indignant expression on Mozzie's face as he brushed past on the way to the door. "If that's how you're gonna act," Mozzie called after him, "I'm not giving you the copy of The Cherry Orchard I got signed for you."

Neal stopped in his tracks, sighed, and turned around. "I'm sorry, Moz, but something important came up and I need to talk to Peter about it."

Mozzie appeared in the doorway, his arms crossed and skepticism written clearly across his face. "Peter? You're going to tell Peter?"

Neal managed a grin, tipped his hat, and turned to run down the rest of the steps. The last thing he could hear was Mozzie's voice: "Of - of course you're telling Peter. Wait. What are you telling him?"

-x-

The bookstore was nearly silent, the hush of those browsing the store setting the space apart from the bustling streets without. Peter casually made his way towards the Art section of the store. And there he was, Neal Caffrey, wearing his fedora and looking completely at ease as he studied the book of Ukrainian Paintings in his hands.

"You better have a good reason for pulling me away from a romantic dinner with El, Caffrey," Peter said in an aggravated manner.

The conman didn't even look up from his book. "You'll appreciate it," he mumbled, and flipped a page before tilting the book towards Peter to reveal a picture of the Zemliia.

Peter frowned. "This is what you wanted to talk to me about?"

Neal inclined his head and shot Peter a look from the corner of his eye. He didn't say anything, just allowed the agent to examine the picture in the book.

Peter leaned over to read the short description beneath the image. The Zemliia was completed in 1963, in New York City of all places, and was painted so people could remember the famine that Ukraine went through in 1933. The painting didn't appear to be worth much to Peter. Though, he thought, I might think differently if I was Ukrainian.

"So what's the importance of the Zemliia?" Peter asked Neal.

"I could have allegedly stolen it from a dangerous person."

"Allegedly," Peter repeated. Neal merely raised an eyebrow.

-x-

"What types of books does Ellie like, Chuck?" Sarah asked as she perused the books around her. The CIA agents were enjoying a lay-over in New York City after wrapping up an overseas mission, anc Chuck decided he could make good use of the time by looking for a present for his sister's birthday.

The shelves were lined with romance novels, all of the type Chuck was fairly sure Ellie enjoyed. Fairly was the key word in that sentence; despite the wondrous Intersect in his head, he still had trouble understanding the differences between romance sub-genres. "I know she likes romance," Chuck confessed doubtfully, "But what kind, I'm not sure."

His fiancé smiled at him sympathetically. "What else is Ellie interested in?"

"Well..." Chuck racked his brains as best he could. "There was that one with the, er, the man..."

Sarah had lifted a hand to cover her smile; Chuck glanced away in mock irritation. There was a gap in the bookshelves, allowing him to catch sight of two men bent over another book. At least they didn't seem to be having any troubles with finding something interesting.

And then the man holding the book tipped it upward and the picture caught Chuck's eye -

Zemliia-a painted Ukrainian woman-oil on canvas-sharp blues and cream-never recovered-stolen-Nicolas Halden-assorted names-Volkoff-CAELUM

The flash ended and Chuck blinked, shook his head, and blinked again. The men were still in the next aisle over, the book still in their hands, the picture still easily seen. And more importantly, Chuck could see the side of the one man's face; the black hair and startlingly blue eyes were an echo to an image in his flash.

Sarah looked at him with worry written over her face as she saw her fiancé pale and go motionless. She wasn't the only person to notice Chuck's staring; the two men examining the Zemliia painting had spotted him through the shelves. The look they exchanged made her uneasy.

"Come on, Chuck," Sarah said as she reached for his arm and began pulling, "Let's go check out another section."

"No! Sarah!" Chuck hissed through his teeth as he resisted Sarah's lead. "I flashed on the painting," he whispered. "The associated name was Caelum, and I remember that name from my dad's bunker."

The two other men had started around the shelves, blocking one end of the aisle. Chuck and Sarah caught their movement and tensed.

The first man reached into his coat and Chuck prepared to flash should the stranger pull out a gun. Instead, the man held up a badge. "Peter Burke, FBI."

Sarah in turn, reached for her own ID. "Sarah Walker, CIA." She tilted her head in her fiancé direction. "And this is my partner, Chuck Carmichael."

There's the first chapter for y'all! What did you think? Please drop us a line or two.

Blessings,

~Fierce Queen and WingedFlight