Notes: I probably shouldn't post this but it's getting long enough to be multi-chaptered, even though I was hoping for a one shot. *sighs* Hopefully I can finish it in two chapters. this was a request from huskielover94 and it was just interesting enough that I felt like doing it.


Caffrey vs Carmichael Industries

"you should do a story where the FBI turns down Neal's deal and chuck takes it like he says he will in Computers vs Paintings (Chapter 24) or one where Bryce asks him to work for him at one of the rough patches and he says yes. should include peters reaction to both at some point like they meet again" -huskielover94


Neal stared at the shimmering water. His heart was heavy. Just a day before, he had been in this same spot, talking to Mozzie about his plans to travel. They had the diamond and another big win for the FBI White Collar division.

Neal thought his anklet was going to come off. That he would be a free man. He had Peter behind him and nothing could go wrong.

But, something had. The FBI didn't want to lose him; he was too great an asset. But, if he hadn't been a great asset, he would have been sent back to prison. It was a rigged game and he felt like a fool for not seeing it before.

Running was back to being his best option.

He sighed and turned around. Sitting on the bench was a guy wearing very noticeable footwear.

"Why are you following me? Who are you?"

"I'm about to become the last person on earth who knows where you are."

Everything went dark and tight as a bag was tossed over his head. Neal was jostled and shoved towards the car park, heart thudding in his chest.

Peter was going to think he ran. Mozzie was off making the arrangements now. Would they realise he was taken?

Whatever these people wanted with him, it couldn't be good. Not if they were kidnapping him.

"Hey!" he grumbled as an elbow jabbed him in the side. Then, nothing.

There were a couple of grunts and the bag was pulled off his head. Neal blinked, faced with his exact smile.

"Hi, Neal," Bryce greeted. Despite being grateful to his younger twin for helping him, Neal was instantly sceptical. That con-smile never meant anything good. "Want to come work with me?"

"With you?" Neal echoed. Bryce had made the offer before, notably once while Neal was in prison.

"I work independent now," Bryce informed him. "At Carmichael Industries. We get most of our jobs from Beckman though," he shrugged. "It's a living."

"You know I'm stuck in New York, right?"

"With the FBI," Bryce said with a nod. "However, they've screwed you over, bro. You were supposed to go free. But, someone decided you're useful and so you're stuck." Bryce's grin faded a little as he got a little more serious. "Chuck's good at getting people out of situations like that. As long as you want out."

Neal knew what his answer would be. However, that didn't mean he was going to make his brother work for it. "Will I get to travel?"

"Around the world, if you wanted."

"Paris?"

"I guess. Why is it always Paris with you?"

"What's the catch?"

Bryce hesitated. Neal's eyes widened as he realised there might be a catch.

"Most Carmichael Industries' employees work two jobs. The spy side and the... Buy More side."

"Buy More?" Neal gasped in shock. Maybe the green shirts or the nerd herd fit Bryce but Neal didn't think he wanted that.

"Give it a go, Neal. At the very least, Chuck won't stop you from travelling the world if you wanted. I don't think Chuck would force you into a job you hate. He'd probably help you find something else. As long as it's not criminal."

As Neal watched Bryce, he began to smile too. It had been a long time since he saw his brother relaxed. Even their last meeting, Bryce had been tense, going through the motions as he tried to get Neal to work with him. 'You'll be a great agent,' he had said. 'We could work together.' That was tempting but, Neal didn't like the CIA's effect on his nerdy brother.

This was a little more like the Bryce he remembered. This could be fun.

"Okay. I'll give it a go."

Bryce stared in shock, like he hadn't expected Neal to say yes.


The twins cut the anklet and were on a flight to Burbank, California within the hour. Neal watched New York fade away with slight sadness. Mozzie might be upset that he left without him but, the little guy would understand.

Peter would be fine. Peter was going to DC. Maybe Neal would visit, some day far into the future.


Neal had run.

Peter had expected it. Mozzie insisted that Neal hadn't been planning to leave yet but, considering he vanished a week later, Peter suspected Neal had found a way to escalate his plans.

It didn't matter. Peter was staying in New York. He didn't think he could make decisions about people's lives without being a part of those lives.

A month after Neal left, orders arrived from the top. Close Neal Caffrey's file, Peter was ordered. There had been no sign of him, no thefts of interest and they had no resources to waste searching for a lost CI.

It was strange but Peter was glad he wouldn't have to put Neal back in prison forever if he found him.


Neal had spent a month, hiding out in Castle while the heat went down. Arriving in Burbank had been a quiet affair. Bryce had pulled him off the plane and into a white and red Nerd Herd vehicle driven by a friendly, dark haired man.

The famous, or infamous in Neal's opinion, Chuck introduced himself instantly.

"Hi, I'm Chuck."

Neal hadn't liked Chuck at first. He knew that Chuck had been Bryce's only friend. He also knew that Bryce had betrayed Chuck to protect him.

Neal thought Chuck should have been able to see through Bryce's actions. See that Bryce had been trying to protect him.

But, Chuck proved he was an alright guy. He made sure Neal was comfortable and even promised a Paris mission should Neal make it through the month.

Meeting Chuck's team had been interesting as well. Neal got to know them all since he was stuck in their base.

Sarah was nice enough. She reminded him of Diana a little. Tough but she cared. She brought him treats from the 'surface' as Neal began to call it.

Casey was difficult to read for someone who was supposed to be a typical gun-loving Fed. He tended to leave Neal alone. Although he bothered Bryce every now and then with reminders of when he had shot him.

Neal didn't like that and if some of Casey's guns were shifted around just enough that he would notice, making him paranoid, then it was retribution for shooting first and asking questions second.

Morgan was pretty cool. He reminded Neal a little of Mozzie and a little of June, funnily enough. He lived vicariously through Neal, enjoying stories of Neal's exploits. Neal even managed to talk him through a Buy More heist when he needed to break in without being noticed to get something from Big Mike's office before it exploded (long story).

Bryce was the odd one out of the group. At the beginning of Neal's time there, Bryce felt like an intangible presence. While it was no one's fault, Bryce faded into the background, escaping for missions and generally not being present.


It was one week into Neal's stay when he decided to fix that. It was around the time Chuck managed to worm his way into Neal's 'okay' list.

Bryce returned after a mission, just dropping off some information to Chuck and stocking up on supplies. Neal had been waiting for him. He cornered his brother in the main room with a chess set.

"It's been a while," Neal explained with what he hoped looked like a hopeful grin.

Bryce stared for a few moments before sighing and sitting down.

They were partway through a game when Chuck came in.

"Ooh, chess. Can I play next?"

"You can play Bryce next," Neal decided as it would keep Bryce around longer.

"You've got to be kidding," Bryce grumbled.

Chuck gave Bryce a sad look. It made the twins think about the look a kicked puppy might have. "You don't want to play against me?"

Three games later and Chuck had a mission. It was as he was handing out everyone's jobs for the mission that Neal realised something.

"Who's staying in the van?" he asked.

"Generally no one stays in the van anymore," Chuck shrugged.

"Morgan," Sarah said at the same time. But, for this mission, Morgan was going undercover at the bar.

That wouldn't do. "The person in the van is both the techie and backup. They need to be able to handle the most dangerous situations since their job is mostly extraction and hacking." Neal couldn't hack and wasn't allowed to leave Castle and they all knew it. There was only one person in the room who could be trusted to extract them and who had hacking skills above the normal CIA level.

Bryce seemed baffled that everyone turned to him. He didn't have Chuck's level of hacking skill but, there weren't many people on Chuck's level. And he did find it to be an interesting puzzle.

"If you don't mind-" he started to say to Chuck.

"You'll do it?" Chuck asked happily. He was team leader and couldn't spend all his time sitting at the computer, fending off attacks and gathering info. He had to see the big picture, not just the digital picture.

That's how Bryce found himself conned into Carmichael Industries full time.


When the four weeks were up, Bryce and Neal found themselves in Buy More white and green respectively. Bryce still didn't know how Chuck got him into this uniform.

"I thought Neal was the one who needed a cover job," he commented, tugging at the buttons on his white Nerd Herd shirt.

Neal was grinning at him. This almost made the green shirt he was wearing tolerable.

Almost.

Neal already knew that he was good at sales. Selling and conning were similar arts. But, sales was boring. The same thing day in and day out.

The Buy More would be the same. Or so he thought, until he came in to see Skip and Lester standing on a ladder, dropping cheeseballs on customers.

Or the day he walked in to find Jeff in an overcoat, apparently wearing nothing underneath after Lester stole his clothes, leaving him to borrow a coat or miss work. And the 'new Jeff' who no longer had monoxide poisoning and brain damage from sleeping in his running van took work very seriously. Neal just wondered if he really had recovered like everyone seemed to think.

Then there was the time where the staff ended up split into green and white shirts, pranking each other non stop for a week until Chuck called it. Neal... may have started that one. Or Bryce did. He couldn't quite remember before the glitter incident but vengeance had to be served.

The Buy More was like nowhere else and Neal found he quite enjoyed his time there. Between missions of course. First up was a mission to Paris which Neal enjoyed, specially since he got to stay a few days after his ticket home was mysteriously 'misplaced'.

Something was always happening and, except for that 'Black Friday incident' that no one was allowed to speak about (really, guys? Neal thought Mozzie would have loved it), six months passed before Neal realised it.

"Interpol is moving on the Pink Panthers," Beckman informed them one morning.

Neal was ecstatic. The Pink Panthers were amazing criminals, although Neal didn't like how people were sometimes hurt in their heists, and he would enjoy the challenge of bringing them down.

"The FBI is watching them," Sarah pointed out, having flipped through the dossier.

Bryce had done so as well and was frowning at Beckman. "This is a foolish plan." Everyone stared at him. He kept staring at the screen. "You can't possibly believe we'll be able to get Neal undercover with them. And, even if we do manage it, the case is in New York!"

"Neal has somewhere where you can stay and I believe he can pull this off," Beckman pointed out. She looked to Chuck. The unsaid, 'you've done the impossible before' hung in the air.

Chuck nodded. "We'll do it."

"This is a bad idea," Bryce muttered.